Paul E Nelson presenting at Cascadia Poetry Festival 8, photo by Leszek Chudzinski
“Paul formally received the Mahayana precepts of Zen Buddhism in 2023, becoming a lay practitioner within the tradition, but I believe he had long lived in accord with them. His poetry, in its sensitivity, its humility, and its deep listening, embodies practice-realization — the understanding that practice and awakening are not separate. His writing was his zazen. This collection, FLEXIBLE MIND, is more than a book. It is a continuation of that practice. A testament to a man who lives by attention, who bows to language but does not cling to it, who seeks what lays beyond words by walking straight into them.”– Kosho Itagaki, Soto Zen Priest
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97. Clues From Hell
Part of my journal practice is to read the journal entry from the same day of the previous year. A year ago I was ending my residency at The Lake, the last home of Morris Graves. The Morris Graves...
Animating Cascadia Western Lit Conference Notes
I am set to leave for Victoria on the Clipper and make a presentation Thursday morning at the Western Literature Association's annual conference on a panel with Andy Meyer and Nadine Maestas. They...
The Great Columbia City Dog Shit Debate
It's fascinating to see what hits a nerve with people in our internet age. Seems like days have passed, but it was only yesterday that a neighbor posted to the Columbia City neighborhood Facebook...
The interview I conducted with Sam O’Hana, a Ph.D. student at CUNY, is immensely critical and immensely validating for the work we do at the Cascadia Poetics Lab. At its core, the discussion is about whether writing is for people of means, or if it can be people who have skill and something to say. It means the literary gatekeepers have failed us and have a role in perpetuating neoliberalism in North America which has paved the way for authoritarianism. The interview is available as a podcast here and as a YouTube video here. Below, I have pasted in the transcript and here is my introduction to Sam O’Hana and his topic.