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
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...
Nature Talk Release Party and Reading
I'm delighted to participate in the celebration of a new book and the expansion of a literary community organized by Greg Bem. Carbonation Press of Spokane was founded by Greg in late 2023 and this...
Cascadia in Okanagan
I am delighted to participate in Cascadia: A Braided Land, at UBC Okanagan March 1 & 2. This event is the vision of Slava Bart, with assistance from Harold Rhenisch. Here is a description: I met...
Open Parenthesis (of Winter in America (Again
Greg Bem is the publisher of Carbonation Press and the new anthology Winter in America (Again: Poets Respond to 2024 Election. He got an email from someone asking him why the parenthesis before the...
Andrew Schelling Interview on Forests, Temples, Glacial Rivers
It is said of the poetry of Andrew Schelling that he is “locating language in watersheds and continental ridges, in rocks and plants. A poet of ancient texts and teachings, Schelling tracks the...
Winter in America (Again (A response to the November election)
It was an enormous task to create an anthology, with an open call and eight editors, in 6 weeks, but we did it. Winter in America (Again rightly takes its cue from Gil Scott-Heron and responds...
Zach Charles Book Launch
Ever since Zach Charles and I became friends over two years ago, I have been stunned by his capacity to take in content from the massive information firehouse and turn it into poetry postcards,...
C&P Coffee Company Dec 11 7pm
I'm one of the featured readers on Wednesday, December 11, 2024, at C&P Coffee Company, 5612 California Ave SW. The monthly open mic, facilitated by Leopoldo Seguel, has invited me yet again and...
Sharon Thesen July 2025 Interview
What an honor to interview Sharon Thesen. Of all the people I know, she is in the 99th percentile regarding poetry perception. She has informed my own aesthetic, uses poetry as a tool to make...
rain shadow poetry festival
I'm delighted to be going back to Cumberland, BC, to participate in the rain shadow poetry festival. This is August 22-24, 2025, and is based on the work Adelia MacWilliam did in that part of the...
Paul @ Bradner Gardens with Jim O’Halloran
Jim O'Halloran, the flute player and Subud brother with whom I have collaborated for at least sixteen years, wrote this yesterday: I’m delighted to be returning to Bradner Gardens Park again this...
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.