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
IndieGoGo for Cascadia Poetry Fest
We're starting a crowd-sourcing campaign! https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/cascadia-poetry-festival The 2nd Cascadia Poetry Festival at Seattle U and Spring Street Center May 1-4, 2014, is the...
Zappa, Dead at 17
Zappa came into my life in the middle of 1997 and we estimated his birthday at April 1, 1997. He was a remarkable cat. He had to have been to live with me for almost 17 years. My oldest daughter...
Warning: CA Conrad Trigger Warnings
I read with some amusement poet CA Conrad's Facebook status complaining about a request that he offer "Trigger Warnings" before he gives a poetry reading. The update: Of course smart ass that I am,...
Notes On Gone South
I was given a charge by Michael McClure when I started my graduate work as an independent study student in 2004. He said to not limit my search to the U.S. Taking his advice turned me on to poets...
Seattle, Cascadia “Last Stronghold for Spiritual Medicine”
The man known by many as Beaver Chief came from a long line of Indian Doctors. In this interview I did with Beaver Chief, recorded in August 1998, he discussed his incarceration, his belief that the...
Into the Open: A Way Forward for Cascadia Poetry
I’m still thinking about the notion of how Seattle, with its strong commitment to reading and literacy, has never birthed an innovative movement in writing. In my last post I wrote: Seattle has been...
Seattle Nice and Cascadia Culture
With the AWP Conference just concluded in Seattle, I had many opportunities to see my home through the eyes of others, be a guide to the best of what's here, the cultural mores and to even feel...
An Army of Lovers (Spahr, Buuck)
I was chatting with Vancouver poet George Stanley about what he considered innovative in contemporary poetry. Without hesitation he said the book An Army of Lovers by Juliana Spahr and David...
Cascadia and Feminism
The subject of Feminism has been coming up in recent weeks. My interview with Daphne Marlatt touched on it, as she has organized Feminist conferences thirty years ago and identifies as a Feminist....
Early 2014 American Sentences
The first harvest of the new year, my fourteenth with a daily practice of writing one 17 syllable poem. More on American Sentences elsewhere on this site, but for now, a few from 2014: 1.3.14 - A...
SPLAB 20 Year Bioregional Cultural Investigation
It has been the core of SPLAB's work since 2012 to engage in a bioregional cultural investigation of Cascadia. We owe a huge debt to David McCloskey's groundbreaking work, his evocative maps and...
Blue Rivers Writers Gathering
I once attend the the Blue River Writers Gathering, a biannual gathering at the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest whose purpose, according to their website, is: to take counsel from each other and...
Some Notes on the Minuses
I was having a discussion with an elder poet about a poetry experience that I had recently which left me feeling outside. The funny thing is that's where I want to be. I can't do anything but...
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.