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
Poetics as Cosmology at Holden Village
Thanks to poetry hermano Raul Sanchez, I'll be facilitating my Poetics as Cosmology this summer in the North Cascades and you are welcome to hang out. The place is Holden Village. "Over the course...
Tessa Hulls Interview (Feeding Ghosts)
Tessa Hulls and I met when she donated a poster for the 2013 edition of the Allen Ginsberg Open Mic Poetry marathon. On February 20, 2024 I caught up with her on Zoom to discuss her first book, a...
Article on Cascadia by a Writer in London
The notion of bioregionalism and Cascadia has spread at least to London. I was interviewed on the subject of Cascadia by Gus Mitchell, a London-based free lance writer and was delighted to see my...
Pie & Poetry @ C&P on Valentine’s Day
Poetry Bridge is celebrating 14 years of community mic readings at C&P Coffee Company in West Seattle on Wednesday, February 14, 2024. 6:30 it's time for pie and signups. 7pm a reading that will...
Colleen McElroy Interview
In the wake of the death of Colleen McElroy on Tuesday, December 12, 2023, we are re-posting this interview conducted in 2016. This interview will be part of the next book of transcribed interviews...
Cascadian Zen Launch at Elliott Bay Dec 4, 2023
I am thrilled to present Cascadian Zen at the legendary Seattle independent bookstore Elliott Bay Book Company, Monday, December 4, 2023, 7pm (sharp) at 1521 Tenth Avenue in Seattle, WA. This will...
Rainier Beach Arts & Crafts Market
I'm delighted to again participate in the annual Rainier Beach Arts & Crafts Market on December 2, 2023, from 10AM – 3 PM. The address is 6038 S Pilgrim St., in Seattle, in Upper Rainier Beach...
Online Winter Workshops
The Zoom workshops we started in 2020, when we were already sick of the pandemic and not yet sick of Zoom, continue in their fourth year and frankly, I do not have the Zoom fatigue the mainstream...
Barry McKinnon 1944-2023
I am terribly saddened to report the death of Prince George poet Barry McKinnon. Barry and I, with Nadine Maestas and George Stanley edited the first anthology of Cascadia poetry Make it True:...
The Poetics of De-Colonial Cascadia
I presented this at the 7th Cascadia Poetry Festival, on 7—OCT—2023, at the Subud House/ Spring Street Center."I'm located therefore I am." — Kombu-merri elder, Mary Graham.Ah to be...
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...
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.