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
Beaver Chief – A Salish Perspective on Wellness
Beaver Chief - A Salish Perspective on Wellness Fred "Beaver Chief" Jamison was a spiritual leader who brought out the traditional teachings of the Northwest Coast (Native American) Salish people....
It Appears to Have Been Caused Because God…
Things move pretty quickly in this world. I made a Facebook post, cutting and pasting from a list of recent gun tragedies in response to the Sandy Hook massacre and it got a lot of response. My post...
Sam Hamill interviewed at Doe Bay Nov 1, 2010
The day after Sam Hamill gave a reading at Doe Bay on Orcas Island, as part of the SPLAB at Doe Bay series, his book Measured by Stone was current and he sat down to discuss his trilogy Habitations,...
George Draffan – The Global Assault on Forests
George Draffan is a researcher, the head of the Public Information Network and the co-author of Strangely Like War: The Global Assault on Forests. He discussed the tax subsidies to corporations who...
The Four Hoarse Men (Mice and Duende)
Video from the Four Hoarse Men appearance at the PageBoy Magazine release party, December 1, 2012, is linked here: More videos from the evening linked here.
75. Translating The Digital Fire (For Dharma Mitra)
73. Ode to Sun Mask
(Inspired by the art work of Bill Henderson (Sun Mask) And Lester Bowie’s Rios Negros)
72. Moss Spruce Cedar Cathedral
Vodou Visions (Sallie Ann Glassman)
In an interview recorded on June 12, 2000, Sallie Ann Glassman, a Manbo, or Vodou Priestess and author of: Vodou Visions: An Encounter with Divine Mystery, discussed Vodou, its history as a religion...
Give Wanda Coleman some Breathing Room
In an interview I recorded on November 26, 2000, poet, essayist, activist, literary presence Wanda Coleman talked about the treatment of artists in USAmerica. She lamented the kinds of things poets...
Interviewed by Ethelbert Miller
I was honored to be the subject of an interview by Ethelbert Miller for his weekly radio program in Washington, D.C., On The Margin. He had asked me for a copy of American Prophets months ago, set...
Subud House/Spring Street Center/Open House
I rarely write about my spiritual community, Subud, because one of Subud's cultural mores is to NOT proselytize and in practice that becomes NEVER TALK ABOUT IT, which would explain why the...
August POetry POstcard Fest 2020 (Official Call) #APPF14
The August Poetry Postcard Fest was initiated in 2007 by poets Paul Nelson and Lana Ayers. 2020 marks the 14th year of the fest and this is the official call. It is the biggest annual fundraiser for...
How does one make literary art about this time in history that avoids rhetoric and facile political positioning in this era of the spectacle? How does one avoid being consumed by the simultaneous collapse of so many systems — some being eviscerated by people in positions designed to protect such systems? Deborah Poe has some idea based on her submission to the upcoming anthology Winter in America (Still.
Deborah is the author of several books of poetry including keep, Elements, and Our Parenthetical Ontology, as well as a novella in verse, Hélène. Her visual works–video poems and handmade book objects–have been exhibited throughout the US. She lives on stolen Coast Salish land, specifically the ancestral homeland of the Duwamish, Suquamish, Stillaguamish, and Muckleshoot People.
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