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
SW Road Trip Haibun: Holiday in Quemado
The road has its own demands. Make plans, the road reserves the right to laugh. Hail. Close. Be patrolled with USAmerican religious trooper zeal and yet you go 80+ under sun & big sky. You can't...
Bringhurst on Cascadia
I've re-watched the video of the panel on which Robert Bringhurst participated at the recent Cascadia Poetry Festival. This was the third iteration of the fest and was staged in Nanaimo, BC, April...
After The Japanese 69-72
The poems after more than a year now, seem so out of place when viewed from this "heat wave" point of view. (84 now as I write, which is over 78, the temp at which Seattleites tend to gripe.) And...
Joanne Kyger Reads Easter & Other Poems
Joanne Kyger Interview in Bolinas, CA, Memorial Day, 2015 One of the major women poets of the SF Renaissance, Joanne Kyger was born in 1934 in Vallejo, CA, studied with Pound scholar Hugh Kenner at...
Amalio Madueño in Taos
The purpose of my recent (massive) road trip to the SW and back was to visit Amalio Madueño, who has lived there since the early 90s. I met him in the late 90s when I attended three consecutive...
Duwamish Revealed
Ever since Greg Bem arrived in Seattle from Philadelphia he has been a literary dynamo, presenting and participating in events that are rich in imagination, well-conceived and have added depth to...
Cascadia to Taos
OK, I'm back. It was 4,167 miles in Que (my Honda) to Portland, Boise (via John Day River watershed in Oregon), to Moab, Grand Junction, CO, Denver, Taos, Quemado, NM, Phelan, CA, Lancaster, CA,...
Make It True Readings (dan raphael interview)
The effort to get the word out about Make It True: Poetry from Cascadia begins in Portland, with a reading organized by longtime Portland poet dan raphael, who wrote: A reading to celebrate the...
ATJ 65-68
I love this notion of pre-bedtime suggestions. I have been doing that the last few months, or more based on the latest poems to be posted here from the ongoing series After The Japanese. I have...
50 Days til Postcards
I am starting to get emails about the August Poetry Postcard Fest. Questions like: 1) Is the fest on this year? (Yes). 2) Can you sign me up now? (No). 3) What are the main changes this year? (This...
David Stephen Calonne: Diane di Prima Visionary Poetics & The Hidden Religions
Interview with David Stephen Calonne, author of Diane di Prima: Visionary Poetics and the Hidden Traditions, Recorded via Zoom, Sunday, June 6, 2021, 1:30pm Diane di Prima, who died in October 2020:...
Poetry Postcards Black Mountain Style
I was delighted to team up with postcard poet (with a new book!) Margaret Lee for an essay that has been published on the website of the Journal for Black Mountain College Studies. Postcard poets...
Michael Boughn on Jack Clarke
Michael Boughn is a brilliant poet who edited Robert Duncan's mythical H.D. Book, studied with Robin Blaser and co-edited the dangerous website Dispatches from the Poetry Wars, now archived via...
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.