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
Brenda Hillman at Open Books, Sunday 10.27.13
Brenda Hillman reads at Open Books tomorrow at 3p and I first met her at Open Books in 2010, I think it was. She has just completed her tetralogy of meditations on the elements, ending up...
93. The Fog Wet Web
Who could resist the term meteorologist Cliff Mass is using for this deeply socked-in fog situation we find ourselves cutting through here in Seattle? Fogmageddon. Not me. Combine that with the...
More on Spring & All
Open Books: Poetry in Conversation, No. 1 (pdf) I’d meant to write a blog post about the first in what promises to be a very interesting series of discussions about books of modern poetry at...
ACLU, Javier Sicilia Event
As a parent of two healthy, intelligent and beautiful daughters, I would not want to imagine the pain of having to bury one of them. I am honored to be a part of an ACLU event Saturday night which...
32. Bear Camp Road
It has been over a year that I have been attending open mic events regularly again. I once described myself as an "open mic addict" but did not realize that Red Sky Poetry Theater was an exception,...
New Pageboy + Release Party
I was delighted to get the email that alerted me to the latest edition of Seattle's Best Little Magazine (according to "The Stranger.") That my pals Greg Bem and Nadine Maestas were in it was good...
How to Resist Occupying Forces
In the U.S. Federal Government shutdown, created by the power a relatively small group of Congressmen have on one of the two main political parties in the U.S., has parallels to other occupying...
Government Shutdown/Biosphere Shutdown
In my last (non-postcard) post, I made reference to a review in B.C. Bookworld about a book on climate change from a Canadian author who foresees the huge invasion in Canada of USAmerican "climate...
470. Lowell Murphree, Ellensburg, WA – Relentless Meow
(click here for audio)
469. Elyse Brownell, Boulder, CO – Fennel or Nasturtium Blossoms
(click here for audio)
BIPF Virtual Poetry Fest/Zoomuse
One of the big joys of poetry is to go to festivals, maybe have a chance to read, but certainly have a chance to be in the company of other living poets and talking shop, craft and opportunities....
Zoom McClure Tribute
One of my poetry heroes died May 4. I met and interviewed Michael McClure in 1995 when he was visiting Seattle to promote the book Three Poems with the new long poem Dolphin Skull as the first of...
Zoomuse, Reading for Subud
SICA-International, the cultural wing of my spiritual community, Subud, has created a weekly cyber poetry series featuring Subud members from round the world who write poetry. I will be featured...
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.