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
Deep in Cascadia
Huge thanks to Adelia MacWilliam, Danika Dinsmore, Dominick DellaSala and all the attendees and participants at the first Deep in Cascadia Poetics Retreat in Cumberland, BC. Special thanks to Andrew...
The Cards I Got (2018)
Here are two short videos of the postcards I received during the 12th August POetry POstcard Fest. #APPF12. These cards were the ones I received by September 4, 2018. 50 as of mail delivery time...
#APPF12 (2018) Afterword
I did not get a chance to write about my experience with the 12th August POetry POstcard Fest yesterday as I was leaving Ian, Jennifer and Gavia Boyden and their home on San Juan Island with my...
Audio Archive Donated to WRVM
It's official now. The historic radio interview archive that was created mostly between 1993 and 2004 will now be housed at and preserved by the White River Valley Museum in beautiful Auburn,...
BAAM Fest
I have only lived in the Rainier Beach neighborhood for thirteen months, but already have the distinct pleasure of sharing some of my poems at the annual BAAMfest. Cindi Laws is the organizer and is...
Six Postcards
Bhakti and I got back from an overnight sojourn to THE MULTIVERSE on San Juan Island yesterday. We went to the community/arts spot Ian, Jennifer and Gavia Boyden have created to showcase art and...
Kozer on Seriality
In the car we listen to music almost exclusively on the old Ipod, which has remnants of the previous user's musical tastes. (Thanks Rebecca!) Were it to be passed down again, and were the new owner...
Wanda Coleman (Soap Opera Writing and Editor’s Mind)
Thinking of spontaneous composition during the 12th August POetry POstcard Fest while editing a Wanda Coleman interview from Fall 2000. She was one of our favorite visitors to the NW SPokenword LAB,...
Annual Bradner Gardens Concert
On August 18, 2018, from 6:30 to 8:30pm, I will again participate in what is becoming like a ritual for me, reading poems with Jim O'Halloran's band at perhaps the best community garden in the city,...
Elegy for Tahlequah’s Calf
A recent poem of mine was published in Cascadia Magazine. It is dedicated to the "Father of Cascadia" who suggested someone write a poem about this tragic incident. Thank you David McCloskey and...
Reading at Seattle U Philosophy Conference
I am delighted to be part of a poetry reading as part of The 14th Annual Meeting of the Pacific Association for the Continental Tradition at Seattle University. The reading will be Friday, September...
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,...
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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