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
Nate Mackey, Amerarcana
When I proposed to Nate Mackey that we do an interview on Nod House, which was and still is his latest book of poems, he asked me if I had a venue in mind for its publication. No, I said, but he did...
84. Hold The House Sparrow (For Maleea Acker)
During my recent stay in Victoria, I was the guest of Maleea Acker for a night. She was one of the Canadian poets who came down to read at our first Cascadia Poetry Festival and has recently...
Force Field: 77 Women BC Poets
Soon after I made plans to go to Victoria, BC, for the launch of the Poems from Planet Earth anthology (see this post), I found out the launch of another anthology was happening the next day in...
Poems from Planet Earth
As mentioned in my last post (Walking Victoria) in addition to some lovely photo opportunities and the best matcha ever, I attended the launch for a new anthology of poems made up of past readers at...
Walking Victoria
I think it was attending the Victoria School of Writing (RIP) Summer School session for a week in July 2005 that made me aware of the Planet Earth Poetry series in Victoria, BC. That was the week I...
Haibun de la Serna
Finishing the 83rd poem in a series of 99 haibun on Monday morning, Meredith had overheard me recording the poem and informed me I was "almost finished" with the series I have been working on for...
Craft Talk Organic Poetry, 4.11.13 6P Ballard Library
I remember asking Michael McClure on the phone what it was like to start writing in Projective Verse. I think I had realized by that time I was writing in that manner, in which extreme concentration...
82. Automedicador (For Amalio Madueño)
Nikky Finney 1999 Interview
When I saw that Nikky Finney was coming to town for a reading/chat for Seattle Arts & Lectures (April 25, 2013), I thought it would be a good idea to find and digitize the interview we did in...
Planet Earth Poetry Anthology
"I LOVE the Canadian side of Cascadia as it deals with poetry. In Victoria, Vancouver, Nelson and elsewhere there are retired poets constructing Mesostics, discussing Jack Spicer and Robin Blaser...
Happiness & Spirituality
my friend Jason Wirth is producing a couple of worthwhile events: Happiness & Spirituality How the concept of Gross National Happiness intertwines with Vajrayana Buddhism Lopen Gem Dorji (Gembo)...
The Cards I Got (APPF13 2019)
I have been holding off on taking and posting my annual picture of poetry postcards received during this year's August Poetry Postcard Fest. If I counted right, I got 62 cards: This is a shot taken...
SPLAB @ &Now Cascadia by Anthology
I am delighted to be part of the &Now Conference, which is being staged at UW-Bothell, September 19-22, 2019, with a rather remarkable collection of "experimental" poets.Not sure what word is...
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.