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
Limits of the Heroic
An interesting confluence of events in my life the last couple of weeks which involve a bit of poetics, a bit from one of my recent interviews, Facebook discussions and Feminism. And involves...
Getting to Know Cascadian Poets & Poetics
It was after I finished my M.A. from Lesley University, a course of study I organized with the help of a few select advisors that one of my most close readers, Chuck Pirtle, suggested what I was...
Daphne Marlatt Interview (Liquidities)
I did my first interviews very early in my radio career, but started to gain some skill at preparing and conducting interviews about 1990, when I became News and Community Affairs Director at...
SPLAB @ 20 (A daughter’s view)
We celebrated 20 years of SPLAB last Saturday at the Spring Street Center in Seattle, which is also the Seattle Subud House, my spiritual home. I was pleasantly surprised by the good turnout and...
Allergic to Cascadia Cats
You may have seen that the lineup for the 2nd Cascadia Poetry Festival has been released. I am pretty excited about it and we need 14 more sponsors at the $500 level, or 7 more at the $1,000 level,...
SPLAB Turns 20
Though the official date was December 13, 2013 that the organization I created turned 20, we celebrate Saturday at Spring Street Center. Details below. It is hard to believe how quickly 20 years can...
Jose Kozer Interview (N.13.13 in L.A., Part 2)
Today I'm posting the rest of the audio of an interview with legendary Cuban-American poet José Kozer, conducted by Cal State U at L.A. Ph.D. student Mike Sonksen. (Hear the first four parts of the...
Top Ten Posts of 2013
This is a traditionally a week of looking back at the previous year and rather than present those posts from 2013 I wrote that I liked the best, I am letting my web stats program Jetpack have its...
When I’m 124: Transcending Victim Consciousness
There's an interesting op-ed in the New York Times posted yesterday (Dec 24, 2013) about how some of the folks who brought you Paypal and Google are now focusing their vision and efforts on...
Seasonal American Sentences
The Rad Santa reading last night at Lottie's Lounge was a huge success. Graham Isaac hosted and invited me along with three other writers, including Jocelyn McDonald, Chris Gusta and Ra'anan David...
Song Cousins
My regular open mic (sorry Peter, but "mic" is short for microphone and "Mike" is short for Michael) EasySpeak Seattle has been on hiatus since February AND WE BOOKED SO MANY COOL FEATURED POETS and...
Benefit Reading for the Community of Writers at Sq— Valley
I am delighted this week to participate in the Community of Writers at Sq--- (virtual) Valley. Virtual because of the ongoing (& well-founded) concern regarding the novel Coronavirus. There are...
Death of an Indian (Birth of a Shaker)
I was delighted to read as part of the Margin Shift series on Thursday, June 18, 2020. Earlier in the day I thought I would rehearse a long poem that is a huge part of the newly expanded edition of...
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.