About Tenney

Tenney Nathanson is a Zen teacher, poet, and retired professor of American Literature (specializing in American poetry). He's a Roshi in the Open Source, founded by Joan Sutherland Roshi, and is the resident teacher for Desert Rain Zen in Tucson (and on Zoom!). Tenney is a poet with several books in print and another one coming out soon; he's one of the founding directors of the Tucson poetry and multi-arts collective POG. He is also a Professor of English Emeritus at  the University of Arizona, where the taught undergraduate and graduate literature courses (and, occasionally, graduate and undergraduate creative writing).

Here's a recent biographical sketch of Tenney from Google Gemini. Some poking around this AI site reveals that they are quick to throw in superlatives and make everyone seem more important and accomplished than they really are. But for what it's worth . . . 

Tenney Nathanson is a prominent figure in American poetry and academia, known for his work as a poet, scholar, and Zen teacher. He currently holds the title of Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Arizona in Tucson, where he has taught courses in contemporary American poetry, modernist poetry and poetics, and nineteenth-century American poetry. He also delves into the intersection of American Buddhism and American poetry in his academic work.

Born and raised in New York, Nathanson has been a resident of Tucson with his family since 1985. He earned his PhD from Columbia University. As a poet, he has authored several collections, including Ghost Snow Falls Through the Void (Globalization) (2010), Home on the Range (The Night Sky with Stars in My Mouth) (2005), Erased Art (2005), and One Block Over (1998). His poetry is characterized by an energetic and curious approach, often exploring themes of cultural and intellectual history, and exhibiting a "Whitmanesque line." Reviewers have noted his work's "quicksilver intellect and affective wisdom," with some describing him as a "religious poet of the 'religion of the surface of things,'" aiming for a naturalizing epic that excludes nothing. He is also a co-founder and ongoing member of the Tucson poetry and arts collective POG.

Beyond his poetic endeavors, Nathanson is a highly respected literary critic. His seminal critical book, Whitman's Presence: Body, Voice, and Writing in Leaves of Grass, was published by New York University Press in 1992. This work has been lauded as a "thorough application of poststructuralist argumentation to Whitman's poetry" and considered "the finest articulation of Whitman's project in existence." His recent critical work often focuses on contemporary American poetry and its relationship to the American Zen tradition. He has also published articles on various contemporary writers, including John Ashbery, Charles Bernstein, and Leslie Scalapino.

Nathanson is also a significant figure in the Zen community. He is a Roshi in Joan Sutherland's Open Source branch of the Pacific Zen School, a tradition that emphasizes an innovative approach to koan work. In 2008, he co-founded Tucson's Desert Rain Zen with Jennifer Sellers (Head of Practice). He was authorized to teach by Joan Sutherland Roshi in 2012 and received transmission from her and Sarah Bender Roshi in May 2023. He briefly practiced at the Zen Studies Society New York Zendo in the late 1970s and resumed his Zen practice around 1995 after moving to Tucson.