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
Featured Reading Wedgwood Ale House
Peter Munro has been kind enough to invite me to be the featured poet at his fine open mic in Wedgwood on Monday, February 11, 2013. I will be reading some classics, some American Sentences, some...
Residency at the Morris Graves Foundation
It was the most intensive residency application I have ever seen. Two letters of reference to be sent directly to the foundation. An essay outlining my thoughts on the significance of at least two...
John Olson 1999 Interview
John Olson is the author of Eggs & Mirrors, from Wood Works Press; Swarm of Edges, from BCC Press; and Logo Lagoon, from Paper Brain Press in San Diego. His poetry has been published in numerous...
Modern Jihad: Tracing the Dollars Behind the Terror Networks
Loretta Napoleoni is an economist, political analyst, journalist and author of Modern Jihad: Tracing the Dollars Behind the Terror Networks. We caught up with her in late 2003 to discuss her book....
Emily Kendal Frey Aug 2010 interview
I am posting interviews from a feature I did on innovative Northwest poets for Rattapallax Magazine in Fall 2010. One of my favorite Cascadia poets is Emily Kendal Frey, the author of AIRPORT (Blue...
Up a Creek with Brett Nunn
Today I found out I will require bilateral laparoscopic inguinal hernia surgery. Ugh. Not a fan of surgery but quickly becoming a fan of Project Access NW, which has determined that I am eligible...
Dementia Blog – Susan Schultz
Susan Schultz is a poet, critic, publisher and Professor of English at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Her focus is modern and contemporary poetry, American literature, and creative writing. She...
Dominick DellaSala on Temperate and Boreal Rainforests (interview)
Dominick DellaSala, author of Temperate and Boreal Rainforests of the World, did a presentation on his book at Doe Bay Resort on May 8, 2011. We caught up with him after his presentation and...
Jerome Rothenberg Nov 2001 Interview
In the first part of a November 2001 interview, Jerome Rothenberg discussed his early introduction to the poetry of Federico Garcia Lorca, Lorca's use of the word duende, a kind of Spanish troll or...
59. Sisuitl (Si’sEyul)
I read this poem Tuesday at the Wedgewood Ale House to good response and so am posting it here. Yes, it's another in the Haibun de la Serna series, of which I envision 99. It's also part of the...
APPF13 Update
As of this writing there are 424 participants for the 13th August POetry POstcard Fest. Registration for 2019 ended July 18 and has BEGUN for APPF14. It will end July 4, 2020, earlier than in past...
August Poetry Postcard Fest 2019 Official Call
The August Poetry Postcard Fest was initiated in 2007 by poets Paul Nelson and Lana Ayers. 2019 marks the thirteenth year of the fest and this is the official call. It is the biggest annual...
APPF (Postcards Are Here Again)
The signup is already open for the 13th August Poetry Postcard Fest and opens EVEN EARLIER for 2020. (July 18, 2019!) In order to allow as many people as possible to participate in the joy of...
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.