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
Charles Potts Interview
John Oliver Simon, former director of California Poets in the Schools and recipient of an NEA grant for translation, called Charles Potts “…the greatest poet born in Idaho since Ezra Pound…and one...
Profile of an Anarcho-Leftist, Poet/Librarian, Gentrifier, Greg Bem
When you think of the kind of person gentrifying the Rainier Valley, a man who could be described as an Anarcho-Leftist, Poet/Librarian might not be tops on your list. Greg Bem is a Rainier Valley...
2017 August POetry POstcard Fest is Coming
The call for the eleventh year of the August Poetry Postcard Fest goes out July 4, 2017, and registration opens then. Like last year, as soon as 32 participating poets get signed up, the list will...
Poetry Wars Revived
Most of the LANGPO vs. Black Mountain poetry war was fought before I was invested in poetry, so I have done my best to catch up, but a recrudescence has emerged thanks to Dispatches, a website...
Cultural Appropriation or Appreciation
oIs it Cultural Appropriation or Cultural Appreciation? Can you tell the difference? Is close reading dead? The issue of cultural appropriation has flared up in the last ten days or so thanks to The...
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...
9.28.2022 @ Underbelly
Once I survived the promotional photo shoot for the Underbelly reading, I was ready for the event. I'll be part of a reading in Pioneer Square with: underbelly every last Wednesday ...
Nuchatlitz, Artful
Bhakti and I were delighted to have been offered a chance to visit Nuchatlitz, BC, thanks to Adelia MacWilliam and Shannon Bailey. It required a long drive to Tahsis, BC, with a ferry just to get...
Postcards, Poetics as Cosmology, Embodied
The 2022 Postcard season is drawing to an end and I am delighted we have 17 complete groups this year and a tie for our best participation ever, 544. I have completed writing and mailing my 31 cards...
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.