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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More Walking the Arboretum with Jim Demetre
A second and, hopefully, shorter post about my walk with Jim Demetre at Washington Park Arboretum. What a place this is and late winter is one of the most inspiring times to go, giving those who...
Walking the Arboretum in Winter with Jim
Each morning I look over last year's journal entry for the same day and it had been a year since I walked through Washington Park Arboretum with Jim Demetre. Jim's an amateur botanist whom I met...
Shave and a Slight Cut, $10K
So I have to tell the story of finding out about my surgery date for the two, count ‘em, TWO hernias I have being diagnosed with. (A bilateral inguinal hernia and an abdominal hernia.) I got a call...
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.