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
Gemini GEL, Rouen Cathedral, Seriality
In D.C. to visit my oldest daughter, or "My Kid the Journalist" as I tend to refer to her when I am sharing her articles on Facebook, I was delighted to find...
27. Hanging Leaves
Am working on a new series of poems, a couple of which I've read out at local open mics. Not ready yet to talk about them lest their shape be bent by what someone might say, but am up tonight in...
515. Other Demons
In this latest 2015 August Poetry Postcard poem, again a great Kyger quote which makes me think of field poetics, a subject her friend Robert Duncan had a thing or two to say about. Also a reference...
EBSN4 Report – Brussels
I'm back from an epic trip to Brussels, Belgium, where I attended the 4th European Beat Studies Network Conference. I had a chance to interview Polina McKay, one of the co-founders of the Network....
American Sentences at Andaluz! Nov 8
Hey, I am re-posting this with a sincere request to you to consider attending this event and hang out after somewhere in Columbia City. This book has been 14 years in the making & the form,...
Giverny & Rouen Cathedral
I am honored to have been included in the 4th European Beat Studies Network conference, which is happening now in Brussels, Belgium. I was last in Brussels in 2010 for the Tools of the Sacred...
514. Supple in Seattle
More Salish art and a poem resulting from what the postcard fest instructions suggested since year 1, that is “something of the here and now” should/could get into the poem. That’s what postcards...
George Bowering – My Darling Nellie Grey
George Bowering, (born December 1, 1935) was Canada's first Parliamentary Poet Laureate, is author of more than 90 books, and is the best-known of TISH group of poets based in Vancouver in the early...
513. Summer Desk Avalanche
The latest poem from the 2015 August Poetry Postcard Fest. (See other poems here.) A Georgia O’Keeffe card and great epigraph from Joanne Kyger, the composition of which affected the content. (Wait...
Notes for Personal Myth and Genius Loci
(Workshop given at Tacoma Poetry Festival, Saturday, October 17, 2015) Personal Myth, Place, Genius Loci – Paul Nelson What is the myth you are living? Your Personal Mythology, relationship to place...
American Prophets: Interviews With Thinkers, Activists, Poets and Visionaries
by Paul E. Nelson (Author), Allen Ginsberg, Wanda Coleman A book of sixteen interviews taken from the best of over 600 conducted by Seattle poet Paul E Nelson. The book includes an A-List of...
56 Days of August
by Ina Roy-Faderman (Author), Paul E. Nelson (Editor), J.I. Kleinberg (Editor) Postcards are electric. I get excited just turning a rack of postcards around at the drugstore. There was a time before...
American Sentences
By Paul E Nelson This is a collection of American Sentences...A collection of 17-syllable sentences-the North American version of haiku, a form created by Allen Ginsberg-from a poet who has written...
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.