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
A Time Before Slaughter
Some Slaughter news. You may be aware that my publisher, Apprentice House, is the only student-run college press in the U.S. There are now four different classes students at Loyola of Maryland can...
495. Hazards
494. Momentarily Non-Local
494. Momentarily Non-Local is a sort of Levertov meets Whitman meets the notion of multiple selves. Sam Hamill says I am a “man of a thousand faces” and at least that many selves. Again Cholula...
493. Rose Petals & Chicharrónes
The latest postcard poem from the 2014 August Poetry Postcard Fest. August 19, 2014, Seattle, WA "Holiness does not dissolve, it is a presence / of bronze." - Denise Levertov The Cholula sacramental...
Videopoem Version of Dispatch
A re-post here of a recent postcard poem. I met Kyle McCormick playing basketball in Columbia City. yes, I've been dragging my 53 year old ass onto the court again and have had some very good games...
492. Star Lings
An August poetry postcard sent to Linda Roller.
Airbnb, Microhousing & Seattle Nice
As I continue with a long-term cultural investigation of the bioregion in which I live, Cascadia, an investigation that includes a (hopefully) annual poetry festival, a Massive Open Online Course on...
American Sentences June-Oct
The latest harvest of 17 syllable poems from my daily discipline. See more about the form at www.AmericanSentences.com and thanks for reading. Comments welcome. 6.26.14 - Driving 34 a cherry pit’s...
491. Uncommon Speech
This 2014 August Poetry postcard was written in Puebla, Mexico, while I was there to attend the 14th Subud World Congress. 491. Uncommon Speech is one of my favorite postcard poems from 2014. It...
Review of PN & DB’s Existential Trio
I met Dick Metcalf last night at Rhythm & Rye in Olympia, WA, before the gig I did with Dan Blunck's Existential Trio, featuring Steve Bentley and Ariel Calabria. He wrote a kind review that you...
Letter for Diane di Prima Park
30-December-2020 LaMonte Bishop City of San Francisco Parks & Recreation lamonte.bishop@sfgov.org To the Honorable LaMonte Bishop, I am writing to urge you to rename Page-Laguna Park in SF:...
Diane di Prima Solstice Poem
Thank you Leggy Bruck for this: And di Prima fans should know about this: Rename Page-Laguna Mini Park to Diane DiPrima Park Why is this important? PETITION to Rename Page-Laguna Park as “Diane di...
My Personal Universe Deck
What's good for the goose... It was about 20 years ago (2000?) when I first learned about Michael McClure's concept of a Personal Universe Deck and 8 years ago when I took some of my retreat time at...
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.