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
88. Lesser Quantico
Am reading The Practice of Outside again, again from the Collected Jack Spicer so I can see what notes I made the first time I read it. (It has since been published in Robin Blaser's Collected...
Organic in Cascadia (translated for Brazilians)
José Kozer has been kind enough to connect me with a Brazilian poet Francisco Dos Santos who is translating and publishing a short essay I wrote for the Convergence on Poetics symposium at UW...
Allen Ginsberg Interview, Parts 9 & 10
In advance of the 12th Ginsberg Poetry Marathon, I'm presenting excerpts from my 1994 interview with Allen. 9. Trungpa on Kerouac PN: Tell us about the . . . Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied...
Allen Ginsberg Interview, Part 8
In advance of the 12th Ginsberg Poetry Marathon, I'm presenting excerpts from my 1994 interview with Allen. 8. 1st Thought, Best Thought AG: Yes, it is the title of a book by Chogyam Trungpa...
Allen Ginsberg Interview, Part 7
In advance of the 12th Ginsberg Poetry Marathon, I'm presenting excerpts from my 1994 interview with Allen. 7. Steal This Poem (poem) You can hear highlighted excerpts from the interview...
Allen Ginsberg Interview, Part 6
In advance of the 12th Ginsberg Poetry Marathon, I'm presenting excerpts from my 1994 interview with Allen. 6. On Whitman AG: We were gonna talk about Whitman, remember? PN: That’s exactly where I...
Allen Ginsberg Interview Part 5
In advance of the 12th Ginsberg Poetry Marathon, I'm presenting excerpts from my 1994 interview with Allen. 5. Research (poem) You can hear highlighted excerpts from the interview...
Allen Ginsberg Interview, Part 4
In advance of the 12th Ginsberg Poetry Marathon, I'm presenting excerpts from my 1994 interview with Allen. 4. The Anti-Art Right PAUL NELSON: And now, especially this year, in this state we have...
Allen Ginsberg Interview, Part 3
In advance of the 12th Ginsberg Poetry Marathon, I'm presenting excerpts from my 1994 interview with Allen. 3. The Velocity of Money (poem) You can hear highlighted excerpts from the interview...
Allen Ginsberg Interview, Part 2
In advance of the 12th Ginsberg Poetry Marathon, I'm presenting excerpts from my 1994 interview with Allen. 2. The Politics of Self-Responsibility PN: How would you describe your politics at this...
Cascadian Zen
I am delighted to be part of the Cascadian Zen weekend at Seattle U, which I am helping to organize with Shin Yu Pai and Jason Wirth. Shin Yu is the former Poet Laureate of Redmond and Jason is...
Two Videos (Lyric World Conversation, Roche Memorial)
There are two videos in which Your Humble Narrator plays a role that are well worth watching. The first is an interview with Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma and Shin Yu Pai on a new series at Town Hall...
Interview with Miriam Nichols on Mechanic of Splendor
Of the post-war North American poets that wrote from a stance of spontaneity, there are few that spring to mind immediately, Charles Olson, Robert Duncan, Jack Spicer, Denise Levertov, Michael...
How does one make literary art about this time in history that avoids rhetoric and facile political positioning in this era of the spectacle? How does one avoid being consumed by the simultaneous collapse of so many systems — some being eviscerated by people in positions designed to protect such systems? Deborah Poe has some idea based on her submission to the upcoming anthology Winter in America (Still.
Deborah is the author of several books of poetry including keep, Elements, and Our Parenthetical Ontology, as well as a novella in verse, Hélène. Her visual works–video poems and handmade book objects–have been exhibited throughout the US. She lives on stolen Coast Salish land, specifically the ancestral homeland of the Duwamish, Suquamish, Stillaguamish, and Muckleshoot People.
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