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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Cascadia Poets Get a Taste of the Latihan
I've been asked by the Subud community to write about the 2nd Cascadia Poetry Festival, which happened May 1-4, 2014 at two locations: Seattle University and Spring Street Center. Spring Street...
Happy 71st Sam Hamill
I wrote a more extensive birthday post for Sam Hamill's 70th last year (see this) and this year I took a page (or three) out of the Book of Rexroth for Sam. You can see more of my engagements with...
USAmerica (After Allen Ginsberg)
This poem was read at the 2nd Cascadia Poetry Festival, at the After Party, May 3, 2014, at Spring Street Center and based on the Allen Ginsberg poem America, with a George Bowering twist.
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.