Everything I’ve written or made in the aftermath of my wife’s sudden passing in 2015 is here, in multiple formats, for free, accessible via the drop-down menus above. Status, fame, money–-those fruits of external validation and public recognition–-all appeared irrelevant, impertinent really, from the shadow of that loss. So “free” was important to me. And time felt most pressing: I wanted my work out there RIGHT NOW.  This website is the way I accomplished all that: free, here, right now.  I also self-create paperback versions of all my books using the tools available online, where I sell them at cost (except for my two scholarly books, which are owned and priced by their publisher.) I’m now retired (I was an English professor at the University of Pittsburgh for the last 37 years of my 40+ year career; here is a link to a thumbnail CV of my academic credentials: KameenCVProfessorWeb. I live in Olympia, Washington. You can contact me at paulkameen07@gmail.com.

Everything can be accessed directly from the drop-down menus above.

Just below, are my newest creations in the various media I work in.  

Below that,  I describe briefly each of the headings in the top banner.

Link to my Amazon.com Author’s Page to order my books: 

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Paul-Kameen/author/B001KI3U6M?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Newest book of essays: Quantum Reading: taking revelatory turns

March 17, 2024: This book brings together my two most recent essays, each or which explores a multi-book, simultaneous reading experience, what I call “systems-level reading,” whereby an assortment of otherwise unrelated books, brought together by happenstance, end up in a vigorous dialogue with one another around a shared theme/problem none of them makes central to their arguments. Along the way a larger critical problem emerges unexpectedly that I end up exploring in some detail, one that would never have been visible to me without the reading experience that precipitated it, what I call a “revelatory turn.” Paperback and Kindle on Amazon.

Quantum Reading book 4:14

The audiobook version is available here:

https://paulkameen.com/?page_id=10476

A version of the essay “Quantum Reading vs. the Rabbit Hole” with built-in hyperlinks to the “asides” (numbered explanatory endnotes) is available here:

https://paulkameen.com/?page_id=10072

Newest poetry book: insta-poems

May 25, 2023: Early in 2023 I created an Instagram page pairing photos I take on my walks (uploaded in reel form) with bits of poetry I write (what I call “my tiny poems from Olympia”) about things I see or think along the way. This book  compiles those poems. As you’ll note, some of them are not so “tiny,” in which case I may have taken excerpts, sometimes over multiple days, or revised them to suit the photos and fit the space. These are the original texts from which all of that material was drawn, updated now to November, 2023, when I suspended work on the series. This iteration is sans reels, of course. To see the original posts with images visit my Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/paulkameen/

instapoems 11:11

Updates on older work

August 3, 2023: If you only have time for one of my books of poems, pick this one, September Threnody,  which combines the three grief-related sequences of poems I wrote in a paroxysm of catharsis during September 2016, originally published separately as Li Po-ems, Harvest Moon, and In the Dark. PDF here; audio book first item under Poetry Books above. Paperback and Kindle also available on Amazon.

September Threnody 8:2 PDF

December 8, 2023: This Fall: Essays on Loss and Recovery, my keystone book, has been named one of the Top Notable Books in the 2023 Shelf Unbound Indie Book Competition. Same here: If you only have time for one of my books of essays, pick this one. PDF here, audio book under Books of Personal Essays above. Paperback and Kindle on Amazon.

This Fall Print Revised 12:28:22 PDF

New Music

March 31, 2024: I bought myself a ukulele last Christmas. My first album of songs on this instrument is the top item on my Music page above. There is a small sampling of my guitar-based music on that page, too.

“Anyone who goes against the pace of the grind culture is living as an outlier and a risk-taker.”          

Tricia Hersey

Personal Essays:

I’ve written 11 books of personal essays since 2016. This Fall, my keystone book, which opens the series, was  named as a “Notable Book” in the ShelfUnbound Indie Book Awards. All of these books are available for free, here, via the drop-down menu above, and in paperback and Kindle form, at cost, on Amazon.com via my Amazon author’s page link, above.This Fall, Last Spring, First, Summer, In Dreams, and Quantum Reading  are also available as audiobooks here and/or on Audible.com.

Poetry:

 I’ve written 7 books of poems since my wife passed in 2015, starting with Li Po-ems, the book that opened the floodgates. I also include 2 others that compile poems I published individually earlier in my career.  It’s all here for free, in PDF form from the drop-down menu at the top the page, along with audiobooks for most of them. Paperbacks and Kindle versions are available at cost on Amazon.

Scholarly Books:

I published two scholarly books during my career as an English professor. The first, Writing/Teaching, which won the College Composition and Communication Outstanding Book Award in 2002, explores the teaching of writing in the context of cultural and historical ideology. My second book, Re-reading Poets, documents my life-long love of poetry via the many specific poets who have made my life deeper and more livable. The publisher owns copyrights on these books, which are available at their cost via the usual online venues. I provide more information about these under the “Scholarly Books” drop-down, above.

Essays and Talks:

I published numerous articles and book chapters during my career, the major ones (from the 80s and 90s, when articles rather than books were the primary vehicles for scholarly exchange) are available here in PDF form. I also include several more recent stand-alone essays, my favorite talk, and  the first essay I wrote after my wife passed, which opened the portal to all the rest of this work.

YouTubes and Songs

I have no notable musical talent or experience. After my wife died I began to play guitar and sing (all covers initially) for emotional release. I recorded many, many cover albums to share with family and friends. Then, all of a sudden, I began to binge-write my own songs, recording 8 full albums, archived now for free at https://paulkameen.bandcamp.com/   This burst lasted for about three years, then stopped completely. I have no way to account for it aside from the sometimes strange effects of trauma on creative production.

I do include here a few of my current favorites among the many cover albums I’ve recorded over the last 8 years, including an album of sweet songs with me playing my new ukulele.

During the pandemic I created a number of YouTube series, some combining photos I take on my walks with songs I cover as soundtracks, one with me reading my own poems, a few at a time, once a week over a six-month period, all to share with family and friends. Here is a link to that site: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGc0sDl44WnOI9hjIBTenJg