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
Bradner Gardens August 12
My annual appearance at Bradner Gardens with the Jim O'Halloran group is happening August 12, 2023 at 6pm and Lorna Dee Cervantes has been a late addition to the bill. The garden is a jewel of the...
Margin Shift August 3, 2023
Lorna Dee Cervantes has been added to the Margin Shift lineup for Thursday, August 3, 2023. I hope to see you there: Thursday, August 3, 2023 7pm Seattle Theosophical Library 717 Broadway Av E,...
Bradner Gardens Reading, Margin Shift
It might be the 56 Days of August, but I'll take a break from writing postcards for a moment to read at two local cultural events that I've been part of before. Margin Shift: Friends in Poetry has...
John Olson on The Day Song of Casa del Colibrí
It was wonderful seeing John and Roberta Olson, Willie Smith, Denis Mair, Phoebe Bosche, Trudy Mercer, Bart Baxter, Elliott Bronstein and other writers from the Red Sky Poetry Theater days at events...
The Tunnel: A Literary and Arts Crawl
I'm delighted to be part of a literary arts event Sunday, July 9 from 5-8pm. The Tunnel: A Literary and Arts Crawl is the mastermind of Greg Bem, who will be moving from Seattle to Spokane for a job...
Brenda-ized City Sonnet
For three full seasons (October-June, 2020-2023) I have conducted online workshops designed to allow poets who have participated in the Poetry Postcard Fest to go a little deeper into the process of...
Postcard Poem as Ofrenda
After I suggested this title as the June 15, 2023, talk to be given at the Altar/Alter project, I realized that what I meant was more like milagro or folk charm, though one could make the case that...
Postcards on the Altar
I am delighted to be part of an ambitious event being produced by Greg Bem, Eric Acosta, Amy Hirayama, and Denny Stern. Three of the four are postcard poets and all are energetic members of the...
732. Varney’s Nada
I have a practice of reading my journal entry from the same day of the previous year and love when poems I'd forgotten I'd written show up and still have some potency. Sam always warned me not to be...
Sam @ 80 (w/ audio from Doe Bay reading)
Sam Hamill would have been 80 today, May 9, 2023. He has been gone 5 years now, but he is in my head daily. Anytime I drink saké, eat sushi, look at my altar and often when I am engaged in reading...
Poetry Postcards and Zen
An amazing testimonial for the Poetry Postcard Fest though it was not intended to serve that purpose. It is from Kosho Itagaki of Temple Eishoji (where I sit three days a week.) He writes: 🚤...
Matt Trease Interview The Outside
Matt Trease moved to Seattle, became a postcard poet, has long helped run the Margin Shift reading in Seattle, has been a board member of the Cascadia Poetics Lab for 8 years and is my good friend....
Kosho, Basho, Sam, Michael
If you did not know, I participated in the Jukai ceremony on December 11, 2023, under the direction of Kosho Itagaki, at Temple Eishoji in Rainier Beach. I took refuge in the Buddha, the dharma and...
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.