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
Two Readings, Downtown Library, Jack Straw
I'm delighted to be part of two important poetry readings in the next few days. Saturday, October 19, 2-4pm, Microsoft Auditorium, Seattle Central Library, 1000 4th Avenue: TAKE A STAND: Poets...
Paul Reads at Jack Straw Oct 21 7pm
I'm delighted to have been invited to read as part of the Jack Straw Writers Program reading Monday, October 21, 2024 at 7pm. Other poets include John Burgess, Bill Carty, Denise Michaels, Susan...
DaySong of Thoughtless Openness
I am still floating from my recent visit to British Columbia, which I took for a series of events centered around Cascadian Zen Volume I. Events at the Mountain Rain Zen Center in Vancouver, the...
Sam Hamill, Christopher Yohmei Blasdel Heart of Bamboo
I was delighted to see this note from Christopher Yohmei Blasdel: I'm thrilled to announce the streaming re-release of "Heart of Bamboo: Poetry and Music in the Zen Tradition," featuring the poetry...
Reading @ Butoh, Typewriter Poems in Bothell, Bradner Gardens
They're keeping me hopping this weekend and I'm delighted. Friday night at 7:30, I'll be reading poems at the home of Joan Laage and David Thornbrugh. It's an event called Homestage, featuring butoh...
TAKE A STAND: POETS AGAINST HATE
I hope you can join me for a reading curated by Phoebe Bosche of the Raven Chronicles from 2-4pm on Saturday, October 19, 2024 at the Microsoft Auditorium of the Seattle Central Library: Take a...
DaySong Miracle (Past 62)
DaySong Miracle (Past 62) by Paul E. Nelson Published April 2024Greg Bem, Carbonation Press: This is third of four “DaySongs” Seattle poet Paul E. Nelson has completed. The ritual was designed for...
Cascadian Prophets: Interviews 1999-2023
Cascadian Prophets: Interviews 1999-2023 By Paul E NelsonEdited by Sharon Thesen Cascadian Prophets: Interviews 1999-2023 is the second collection of transcribed interviews taken from the 30 year...
Bradner Gardens Concert, Aug 17
I'm delighted to read poems again with the backing of the Jim O'Halloran Quartet, Saturday, August 17, 2024, 7pm at Bradner Gardens. The gardens are at 1730 Bradner Place South in the Mount Baker...
Social Acceleration and the Postcard Antidote
I was fortunate to be invited to teach spontaneous poetry methods at Holden Village, which is a spiritual retreat in the North Cascades. It is a former mining town and is a 45 minute drive from the...
Andrew Schelling via Vidyā (in direct contact with rasa)
I've been granted permission from Andrew Schelling to post a small excerpt from his new book of Vidyā translations for my ongoing online workshops. The new book is Old Time Love Song Magic: Sanskrit...
Free Winter in America (Still Workshop
PAUL E NELSONDear Poet, WHAT: Free online poetry workshop WHEN: Today at 12N PST WHERE: PEN zoom WHY: Winter in America (Still WHO: Roxi Power, allia abdullah-matta, Your Humble Narrator I am one...
CPL Wins Humanities WA Award
On October 30 the Cascadia Poetics Lab was one of 50 individuals/entities honored with the Humanities Washington Award. They said: The Humanities Washington Award recognizes outstanding...
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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