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
Reading/Career Counseling Event
Never thought I'd write THAT blog post title, but there you go. And it's another opportunity for you to BUY A COPY of American Sentences and hear how one remarkable flute player interprets various...
Happy 4th Birthday Ella Roque Nelson
Happy Birthday today, March 17, 2016, to my youngest daughter Ella Roque. She got her first taste of chicharrones this week and here's a little poem inspired by her actions this morning. Maybe it...
528. Prayers & Street Chorizo
Yes, demons were a sub-theme of my work in the 2015 August Poetry Postcard Fest. More demons, another memory of the 2014 Subud World Congress in Puebla, Mexico, and an illusion to los feos...
World Poetry Day
World Poetry Day is March 21. Don't feel bad, I did not know that either and it has been apparently been happening since 1999. One company is offering a cup of coffee on that day in exchange for an...
Birthday Anagram for Solihin Thom
I have a YUGE amount of gratitude for my current state of health and joy to the man who suggested I investigate the spiritual practice of the Latihan Kejiwaan of Subud, Solihin Thom, who celebrates...
Left, Egalitarian Validation
How do you know if someone is a vegan? They'll tell you. I'm not a vegan, but when I first heard the phrase Left Egalitarian, it registered as quite accurate to describe my politics. (I've linked to...
Postcards for Peace
I participated in the first World Peace Poets postcard project this past February, after being invited by Carla Shafer. Rather than post every poem I wrote, I have put together a page which will...
527. Choose Your Pronoun
The latest poem to be posted from the 2015 August Poetry Postcard Fest:
Bioregional Cultural Investigation
We do what we know before we know what we do. - Charles Olson. Little did I know in 2012 that the first Cascadia Poetry Festival would be the start of a 20 year bioregional cultural investigation...
Seattle Not So Great
Great article by Danny Westneat (former Valley Daily News columnist) about whether Seattle is great. In the article, he refers to an Atlantic magazine article entitled: Eleven Signs a City Will...
Galactic Travel in Rainier Beach
What a delight to see the careful unveiling of community in this neighborhood where Bhakti and I have lived for over 4 years. The neighborhood is Rainier Beach and we live across the street from a...
Haibun de la Serna World Tour
Now that Haibun de la Serna, my latest book of poems, is out, it is time to launch the HdlS WORLD TOUR to promote it. I am blessed to have a sympathetic publisher in Koon Woon of Goldfish Press and...
Haibun de la Serna Published
I am delighted to announce today that a book I finished ten years ago has just been published by Koon Woon's Goldfish Press. Haibun de la Serna is the book. It consists of 99 neo-barroco haibun all...
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.