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
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...
Trevor Carolan – Reading BC and PNW Literature
Trev Carolan is the editor of Making Waves: Reading BC and Pacific Northwest Literature. Paul Nelson interviewed him July 15, 2011, at the Prophouse Cafe in Vancouver to talk about the book. Here is...
The Line Has Shattered (1963 Vancouver Poetry Conference)
Mer, Ella and I left Seattle Thursday morning for Vancouver for the premiere screening of a documentary on the 1963 Vancouver Poetry Conference, The Line Has Shattered. It was being screened at...
The History of the Decline of Wild Salmon
David Montgomery - The History of the Decline of Wild Salmon David Montgomery is a Professor of Geomorphology at the University of Washington and author of: King of Fish: The Thousand Year Run of...
Denis Mair on Huang Nubo (Luo Ying)
I have known Denis Mair from my earliest days attending Red Sky Poetry Theater at the Globe Cafe at 14th & Pine. This would have been as early as 1995. A tall, soft-spoken man, he would read his...
May 13 Nanaimo Workshop
I have been fortunate to be able to travel to much of Cascadia. Sometimes I get to share the fruit of my research on Organic Poetry. David Fraser of Wordstorm has invited me back to Diana Krall's...
Xi Chuan Notes on the Mosquito
After making a presentation in Xining, China in August, 2011, at the 3rd Qinghai Lake International Poetry Festival, a Chinese poet came up to me, told he he enjoyed my presentation and asked if I...
Cascadia Poetry Festival Ad Board Meeting
To the Members of the Cascadia Advisory Board, We are scheduling a meeting on Sunday, March 31, 2013, at 4P at Spring Street Center, 1101 15th in Seattle. We'll give folks an update on developments...
Judith Roche, Rest in Power
I was saddened to hear the news via Facebook that Judith Roche died at her home in Seattle's Leschi neighborhood tonight. (Thursday, November 14, 2019). I had a chance to visit her last week and she...
Interview with Beat Nun Mary Norbert Körte (Oct 25, 2019)
The second and third interviews with former Catholic Nun Mary Norbert Körte were conducted by your humble narrator on Friday, and Saturday, October 25 and 26, 2019. While the woodstove fire crackled...
Reading in Ukiah
I will be heading to extreme Southern Cascadia Thursday, and go out of the bioregion to read in Ukiah, California. I am headed south to meet and interview Mary Norbert Körte, a poet, and former...
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.