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
Bernie Sanders Expands the Cultural Bandwidth
I had been living in Seattle for less than a year when I read an article, or maybe an ad in The Nation magazine, that Bernie Sanders, a Socialist from Vermont, was running for Congress. I think I...
Ai WeiWei Exhibit on San Juan Island
What a great thing to do on a Sunday - day trip to San Juan Island to see an exhibit of the work of legendary conceptual artist and Chinese political dissident Ai WeiWei. His story is legendary (and...
523. Body, Speech, Mind
In this poem from the 2015 August Poetry Postcard Fest the fact I was reading Philip Whalen's biography is reflected and because of that some Buddhist notions. Other factors include a touch of Subud...
Ancestry Includes Chiefs
One of the truly remarkable gifts in the information age is the access to ancestral information. Within the last year I started an account with the Geni.com and in the last week my Brother Andrew...
Bernie & Your HN’s Political Compass
For friends not on Facebook, your humble narrator continues to wade through the social media slop so you don't have to. A couple of nuggets today: First is this little test to determine where you...
Sam Hamill Interview, Notes on Cascadia 3 (Malpais)
The last Malpais Review is out and like most literary initiatives on this here continent, it went as far as their Publisher/Editor Gary Brower could take it. I am fortunate enough, thanks to Amalio...
522. More Recreation
Written in the heat of the recent Bernus Interruptus, which I witnessed and which my report of (I think) resulted in the loss of one postcard participant. The bloqueo reference is the Cuban economic...
I Sing the Body Apoplectic (to) Make The Pie Higher
It takes years for most poets to learn a craft and then unlearn certain rules, or learn how to creatively break them like playing with syntax, making abrupt subject changes and other techniques...
Upcoming Readings: Sonic Bloom, Port Townsend, Wedgwood
I will be doing readings from American Sentences at two upcoming gigs and one of work completely created for Greg Bem's latest literary adventure. Dates: Wednesday, Jan 20 - 9pm, at Sonic Bloom -...
Cascadia Poetry Events
There are a few developments with the Make It True anthology and the combination of bioregionalism and poetry. I hope you'll help us get the word out about some events coming up. It was great to...
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...
Cascadia, Water, Compassion
Each day after Bhakti and I have our morning beverage (a matcha latté for me, coffee for her) I sit at this here Mac and journal about the previous day. Before...
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.