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
Epistolary Poetry by Sam Hamill
I have been getting caught up on some of Sam Hamill's work since his death back in April. Last night reading from his 1981 book of "casual essays" or "over-the-shoulder" glances he titled At Home in...
Vince Balestri, Brian Kent, Eric Pollard (Sept 1997)
I finished cataloging the IPiPP/SPLAB archives today, Saturday, June 23, 2018, at 5:36pm, thanks to a 4Culture grant and I am digitizing as much as I can before the audio is transferred to its new...
Ed Sanders 2000 Interview
From the Archives: Interview 1 - 22:07 Interview 2 - 23:08 Show Opening - 4:10
Planet Drum on Cascadia
The premier organization dedicated to the concept of bioregionalism is the Planet Drum Foundation, founded by Peter Berg and Judy Goldhaft. Their latest newsletter is out with a special offer that...
Wanda Coleman 2002 Interview
Going through the SPLAB (IPiPP) audio archives thanks to 4Culture, I came across this interview I'd forgotten I had. Wanda Coleman from January 2002, first aired in February 2002. In it she talks...
George Bowering 2005 Interview
I first met George Bowering at the Victoria School of Writing Summer School in 2005. It was the tenth anniversary of that summer school and since then has ceased operations. I had taken a weeklong...
Poetry with Purpose
In planning for the Becoming Cascadian weekend May 31-June 3, 2018, the model used by my spiritual community (Subud) for its annual kejiwaan gathering is key. A very democratic affair in which there...
Sam Hamill’s Last Book
After Morning Rain will be released tomorrow (Tuesday, May 15, 2018.) It is the last book by renowned poet, translator, editor and founder of Copper Canyon Press, Sam Hamill and there will be a...
Anne Waldman, Andrew Schelling 2001 Interview
From the archives: Northwestern Exposure #336 for 4/22/01 - 55:00 Subject: The Poetic Activism Legacy of Allen Ginsberg Guests: Anne Waldman & Andrew Schelling Contact: Naropa University Date...
Postcards in Twisp
Thursday and Friday, (5.10 & 5.11.2018) I will be the Methow Valley for events that involve the August Poetry Postcard Fest. Fest registration starts in less than two months and this is the...
I Sing the Salmon Home
I'm delighted to have work in the new anthology curated by the outgoing Washington Poet Laureate Rena Priest. A postcard poem from 2022 was selected and I got this note from the publisher, Empty...
AWP Off-Site Readings
AWP is again having their annual convention in Seattle in 2023 and an expected 10,000 writers are headed here. (Don't say we didn't warn you!) The Cascadia Poetics Lab will have a booth at the book...
Acrostic for Halstein Stralberg
One of my greatest mentors in the Subud community, Halstein Stralberg, died on November 6, 2022 and was memorialized in Seattle at the Subud House/Spring Street Center on Sunday, January 22, 2023. I...
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.