Brenda Hillman has been such a great inspiration to me and supporter of my work, both via the Cascadia Poetics Lab and my own writing, that when she said I should apply to be part of the annual Community of Writers Poetry Program, I made plans to apply. I did, got support to be there, thanks in part to the Paul Radin Memorial Scholarship. After that I did what any self-respecting poet did, I put the rest of the credit card.
The week is set for June 22-28 and the faculty includes: Kazim Ali, Ama Codjoe, Carmen Giménez, Brenda Hillman, Brian Teare & Matthew Zapruder. (All part of a faculty reading you can watch! See below.)
This workshop is based on new writing, writing done THERE and I have my play cut out for me, as I will be a resident three days after this experience ends in Denver, at the Clyfford Still Museum. See: https://paulenelson.com/2026/04/20/paul-e-nelson-clyfford-still-museum-institute-residential-fellowship-program/
& the five weeks that start June 22 means I will be away from the Cascadia Poetics Lab at the same time lists go out for the 20th Poetry Postcard Fest. Huge thanks to Megan Durham and Susan Tracy for their support. Thanks also to the CPL board and Cascadia Poetry Festival committee, which is helping make things go for the October festival. It is the first real vacation I have had since starting the Cascadia Poetics Lab im 1993, though I have gotten away from time to time and have no regrets.
I am steeping myself in the work and writings of Clyfford Still and will focus most of that on his time in Cascadia, which was seminal for him. The last time I participated in Community of Writers was during the pandemic year of 2020 and I remember then showing my love for poets like Wanda Coleman, Ted Berrigan and Sam Hamill among others and wondering why I was feeling like an outcast! The irony of supporting outcasts and then feeling outcast was not lost on the participants 6 years ago, but things have not changed much given my emphasis on Still.
A young eagle flies by my picture window and giving up part of June and all of July Cascadia summer is difficult, but I think worth it. I’m likely to let the blog go dark for that time. & of course I’ll miss my dear Rabbit Queen.
When I return, in August I have gigs:
August 8, Bradner Garden reading with the Jim O’Halloran Band, 6-8pm
August 15, Poetry Garden Reading, 3854 50th Ave S.W., 3-5pm
August 22, Reliquary Show, Kirkland Arts Center, 5-7pm
Happy Summer
