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
55. Prince (R.I.P.)
55. Prince I always thought it was “cuss, fight & bleed” as the reasons one Prince Rogers Nelson cited as warnings for parents hoping to raise healthy children but “breed.” How a Nelson could do...
Postcards for Garcia
A follow up to the post about my recent trip to Taos, New Mexico. Amalio Madueño is community development specialist and brilliant poet of Yaqui and Tarahumara heritage. I am indebted to Amalio for...
532. Old as the Devil
ANOTHER devil reference in this latest of the 2015 August Poetry Postcard Fest and an image of one to boot. I love how the neighbors across the street use a pole with netting at the end to harvest...
Taos April 2016
I have just returned from Taos, New Mexico, where I was invited to read at the Jazz & Poetry event produced by the Taos Bebop Jazz Society and Analog Eric and Judy Katzman. I had first gone to...
Global Warming Sentences
In my two most recent readings of American Sentences, I used as an ordering device the month of April. I went through my manuscript and copied off all of the poems written in April that were...
South Seattle Emerald 2nd Anniversary
One of the great delights of the Internet Age is that the local newspaper, now all but gone in our society, has been reimagined as the neighborhood blog. I envisioned this 20 years ago while living...
531. Rat Access
Another Salish Art card from the 2015 August Poetry Postcard Fest and one I’ve used before. We miss our cats, not that they would have been able to ward off attic rats. There is just something...
Kale Flower Yellow
Neoliberalism = the New Religion
God is dead but Satan abhors a vacuum. And religion/spirituality in North America has been replaced with neoliberalism. I find this out during the current U.S. Presidential campaign when I engage...
530. Cig Butt Mystery
If you believe in Traditional Chinese Medicine, you know the lung/heart meridian is related to grief. I can't help thinking that anytime someone has a smoking habit, grief must not be far away....
Wildlife of the Underworld (Plants & Poetry Journal)
I'm delighted to have a couple of FLEXIBLE MIND poems in the new book from Plants & Poetry Journal, Wildlife of the Underworld. Susan Landgraf! Cole Swenson! Jeffrey Beam! & others. I can't...
Ode to Bill Turner
I was very saddened to hear about the death of NW painter William Turner. He died at age 81 on Christmas Eve. I felt Bill was a genius painter and tremendously under-appreciated. Maybe that changes...
Some 2021 American Sentences & Other Poems
I made it to Clatskanie, Oregon, birthplace of Raymond Carver, to have a writing retreat in a cabin on an organic farm. Of course there would be a snow storm and a 90 minute delay on Hwy 30 getting...
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.