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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Featured Reading Wedgwood Ale House
Peter Munro has been kind enough to invite me to be the featured poet at his fine open mic in Wedgwood on Monday, February 11, 2013. I will be reading some classics, some American Sentences, some...
Residency at the Morris Graves Foundation
It was the most intensive residency application I have ever seen. Two letters of reference to be sent directly to the foundation. An essay outlining my thoughts on the significance of at least two...
John Olson 1999 Interview
John Olson is the author of Eggs & Mirrors, from Wood Works Press; Swarm of Edges, from BCC Press; and Logo Lagoon, from Paper Brain Press in San Diego. His poetry has been published in numerous...
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.