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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Ella Roque Nelson, a quarter-Cuban, part-Irish St. Paddy’s Day Baby
When Meredith and I learned that the baby she was carrying was a girl, she started suggesting first names. She would say a name and I would react immediately as to whether I would like it or not,...
Final Cascadia Poetry Festival Preparation
Here are a few highlights, with links, to events of the Cascadia Poetry Festival. Please be aware that Gold Passes are now extremely limited and they may be sold out by March 24th. Guarantee a spot...
Enbridge Pipeline Poetry Resistance
This in from Christine LeClerc about an amazing piece of resistance to the tar-sands pipeline in poetry form. The poem is a great deal longer than the proposed pipeline and the pdf worth...
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.