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
Meet Mayoral Candidate Katie Wilson
On Wednesday, July 23 at 6:30 Seattle Mayoral candidate Katie Wilson will discuss quality of life and culture in Rainier Beach with an emphasis on efforts to create affordable housing for artists...
Winter in America (Again Monday, July 21 via Zoom
From Bill O'Daly: Dear Friends and Family, A reading based on Winter in America (Again, an anthology developed in response to the 2024 election by poets Katie Sarah Zale, president of the Arizona...
Resistance as Writing
How can one write poetry about current political events without resorting to invective or rhetoric? Why is this important? Poetry is a use of language that is capable of a kind of depth of being...
Eagle Harbor Book Company Canceled
Dear Faithful Blog Reader! The Winter in America (Again reading scheduled for tonight, Friday, July 11, 2025, has been canceled. The tour's last stop is tomorrow, Saturday, July 12, at 2pm at the...
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...
Interviewing the Interviewer: Paul E Nelson
My appreciation goes out to Melissa Lemay, who turned the tables and interviewed ME about doing interviews, American Sentences, the Poetry Postcard Fest and Allen Ginsberg, among other topics. That...
Announcing En*trance Journal
(Image: “Inga” (Detail) 65 x 85” acrylic on canvas, c.2012 © Frank Galuszka) I'm delighted to be an Editor-at-Large for a new journal out of Northern California called En*trance. It can be...
Postcards from Mapes Creek June 8 4-7pm
I hope you'll consider coming to Rainier Beach this Sunday from 4-7pm to celebrate the arts of poetry postcards and our little urban stream that we hope someday will be totally daylighted. What...
Ralph Towner 1940-2026
One of my greatest disappointments in life is that I never saw Ralph Towner in concert. He died today in Rome. There are many places online where you can get the details of his life and career and I...
Celebration of Koon Woon
On Wednesday night at C&P Coffee Company in West Seattle, longtime Seattle poet and publisher Koon Woon was honored by his friends, by poets who he mentored and those who love him. Here is the...
An Ocean of Time—The Poetry of Sam Hamill Set to Song
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.