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
Neukom Vivarium Variations
It is part public art sculpture, part environmental education project. Unlike any other art project one can imagine, the Neukom Vivarium in Seattle’s Olympic Sculpture Park is a nurse log...
Evan Flory-Barnes Interview
On Tuesday, April 25, 2017, I sat down with bassist, composer and Seattle native Evan Flory-Barnes in my apartment in the Angeline to discuss his work, his vision for Seattle's arts community and...
Notes on the Poetics of Resistance
Resistance is in the air thanks to the election of SCROTUS, the So Called Ruler of the United States. I've written about Resist Much, Obey Little: Inaugural Poems to the Resistance and have read my...
Greyhounds & Activism @ Angeline
Start with two rescued Greyhound dogs, add two vegans (a mother and daughter) and move them to a large apartment building in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood (Columbia City) and what do you get?...
Responding to Ethelbert
I first met Ethelbert Miller in 1994, when I knew nothing about poetry and he was touring with the book "In Search of Color Everywhere: A Collection of African-American Poetry." We've stayed in...
PageBoy Magazine Writers on Writers
When I was asked for writing about a writer by Thomas Walton of Pageboy Magazine, I immediately thought of my homage to Sam Hamill, written in 2014 and written after the Kenneth Rexroth poem "A...
Miles, Quincy, Georgia, Jazz & New Mexico
Attending the Taos Poetry Circus in Taos, New Mexico, will always be for me like Miles Davis hearing Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker for the first time in 1944. It is a feeling I'll forever be...
McClure’s Mephistos
In his latest book, Mephistos, Michael McClure shows how poetry is energy and how he, at age 84, continues to have the vital energy necessary for creating remarkably vibrant, touching and perceptive...
Resist @ Cascadia
A theme developing at Cascadia Poetry Festivals, such as the one planned for Cumberland, BC, in September 2017, is one of the intersection of poetry and resistance. An event happening at Cascadia...
Reactions to a Fractured Nation
I am delighted to be performing with Jim O'Halloran, master flute player, composer and band leader, as part of the Columbia City Gallery's upcoming exhibit Reactions to a Fractured Nation. It is...
Poetics as Cosmology Workshops Fall 2022
Poetics as Cosmology (Intro to Spontaneous Composition) A five week online (Zoom) workshop for people who have had a little experience in spontaneous poetry composition and want more. Join Cascadia...
Margin Shift June 16, 2022!
(This post has been updated to include Tay Stafford, who has just been added to the bill. There WILL be streaming on Facebook for those who can't make it down to Belltown.) I am delighted to read at...
Haiku NW Talk about Poetry Postcard Fest
It has been eleven years since I was a presenter at Haiku North America, on the campus of Fort Worden in 2011. I spoke on the subject of American Sentences, those 17 syllable poems that I have been...
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.