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
449. Denise Calvetti Michaels, Kirkland, WA – P.E.D. Scandal (2)
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448. Dean Pfaender, Forest Grove, OR – P.E.D. Scandal
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Graham Isaac Interview, Part 2
Graham Isaac is a writer living and working in Seattle, Washington. He holds an MA in Creative and Media Writing from the University of Wales, Swansea, where he co-founded The Crunch, South Wales’...
447. Jacqueline Murray, Pittsburg, KS – Certain Snorts (Nasturtium)
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Poems for Peace, Seattle
I have been asked to help create a Seattle edition of the Poems for Peace event that celebrates International Peace Day on September 21. Anne Padilla and I are facilitating, preparing to make this...
446. Lisa J. Cihlar, Brodhead, WI – Certain Unshakability (Blackberries)
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42 Days of August
2013 Postcard Afterword 2013 was the 7th year of the August POetry POstcard Fest overall and the 2nd year that Brendan McBreen would be in charge of organizing and distributing the list. A call went...
445. Alley Greymond, Seattle, WA – Snake Chief on the Stairs
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443. Ericka Melby, Bartlesville, OK – Alone Under Helicopters
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442. Drew Myron PO Box 914 Yachats, Oregon – Map of the P-Patch
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R.I.P. Michael McClure, 20-Oct-1932 – 4-May-2020
I will never forget meeting Michael McClure, interviewing him in 1995 at the old KZOK-FM studios on Queen Anne Hill, him taking me out for Vietnamese food saying lunch was "on Penguin" (his...
PEN America Emergency Writers Fund
Artists have to train themselves to not link their own self-esteem to outside validation. In THIS culture, the job is much harder because of what the composer Charles Wuorinen said to the New York...
Sam Green’s ATBS Binding
Huge gratitude goes out to Washington's first Poet Laureate, Sam Green, who has bound my new book A Time Before Slaughter/Pig War: & Other Songs of Cascadia. He did it a week or so ago and sent...
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.