Dear Friend in Poetry,

Labor Day is over. The 19th Poetry Postcard Fest is over and I’ve written another daysong. After doing one of these all-day poem-writing rituals, it’s about all I can think about for a while. Fortunately the good folks at the long-running It’s About Time writing series in Ballard have slotted me into their September 11 reading and I am grateful. I think I last read there in 2012.

The event happens at the Ballard Branch of the Seattle Public Library and there are other fine writers reading on that occasion: Catherine Broadwall, Bryn Gribben & Jennifer Oakes. The address is: 5614 22nd Ave NW, Seattle.

The daysong I just wrote is called The Singing Bullets of Soft Secession. It takes a metaphor for writing poetry Joanne Kyger once used, “singing bullets” and combines that with a notion from a Substack article about blue state governors and attorneys general about the response to Trump 2.0.:

Aside from the obvious implications for Cascadia and the notion of bioregionalism, the poem chronicles events from my recent visits to Cumberland and Cortes Island, BC, to Ellensburg, to the notion of lineation as developed by poets using field composition, a bit of appreciation for my beloved wife, a few bonus postcards embedded into the text and a Fanny Bay raven incident. My guess is that the whole poem can be read in 20 minutes, so I’ll read as much as I can in the allotted time at It’s About Time. Please consider attending.

WHAT: Paul E Nelson one of four features at It’s About Time
WHEN: Thursday, September 11, 2025 at 6pm
WHERE: Ballard Library, 5614 22nd Ave NW, Seattle
WHY: In an era where A.I. is going to be doing the thinking for a majority of the human race, see what poets can do with nerve and a deep connection to their non-mechanical sources and have a human experience for an evening.