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
Brenda Hillman Interview on In A Few Minutes Before Later
On December 12, 2022 I had the honor to again interview Brenda Hillman. This time it was on Zoom about her new book In A Few Minutes Before Later. The audio is available as part of the Cascadian...
For Mary Norbert Körte
I have finished creating podcasts with my two interviews conducted in October 2019 with the former Nun and poet Mary Norbert Körte. She died on November 14 at age 88 at her home near Willits,...
A Winter Solstice Reading
Over the past ten+ years my friend the poet and librarian Greg Bem has created some of the most inventive poetry gatherings I have ever experienced. One that involved divination and chance...
Rainier Beach Arts & Crafts Market/New Chapbook
I am delighted to be part of the Rainier Beach Arts & Crafts Market, December 3, from 11am to 3pm, at the Rainier Beach Community Club, 6038 S. Pilgrim Street. Bhakti and I have lived here in...
Interview with Beat Nun Mary Norbert Körte
This post, originally from November 5, 2019, has been republished in the wake of the death of Mary Norbert Körte at her home in Willits, California, Monday, November 14, 2022 at 1:30pm. She was 88....
The Day Song of Casa del Colibrí: Como Sacramentos
Available from Paul. $10. Add $3 for shipping and handling. 9030 Seward Park Av S #213Seattle, WA 98118 A new chapbook based on a writing exercise developed in the spirit of Bernadette Mayer and...
Open Mic/Workshop
Please join me for a free Poetics as Cosmology workshop/open mic where current and former participants will talk about something they gleaned from Poetics as Cosmology and maybe even read something...
January Workshop Registration Open
A five week workshop which now has most of the same participants going into year three is over. I received a wonderful testimonial from Ann Graham Walker: I think you can take a lot of credit for...
Nina Menkes Producer of Brainwashed: Sex Camera Power
Thanks to a member of my Subud spiritual community, I was alerted to a new documentary about gender relations in Hollywood and a thesis by a director that says the "visual rhetoric" of camera angles...
Poetics as Cosmology Workshops in Des Moines
I am grateful to 4Culture and the Des Moines Arts Commission for the support of three free workshops next month. Poetics as Cosmology is the title of a workshop I have been facilitating online for...
Anne Tardos The Always Already Absent Present
What a joy to interview Anne Tardos about her new book The Always Already Absent Present. The audio is online thanks to Zach Charles and here is the video, recorded March 4, 2025. My introduction:...
Stephan Torre
One of the great joys in participating in the recent Cascadia: A Braided Land event at UBCO was meeting 84 year old Northern Cascadia poet Stephan Torre. With roots in Big Sur back in the days...
Notes for Christo Rey High School Talk on Bioregionalism
24-FEB-2025 How I got into radio. 1974, Lane Tech, cut-off record:Radio career: 1980-2026, Chicago, Baltimore, West Palm Beach, Appleton, Peoria, Seattle in 1988. Transition from D.J. to Community...
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.