Paul E Nelson presenting at Cascadia Poetry Festival 8, photo by Leszek Chudzinski
Paul Nelson’s ongoing honing of the Day Song poetry event has produced some of the most lively and consequential verse of our time. How else write about the calamities and demands and mental/emotional/political consequences of the materialist apocalypse upon us, than an ongoing poesis of awareness and participation the anti-form the Day Song provides? Truly a praxis of proprioception and of Olson’s demand to “keep it moving…
– Sharon Thesen, Cascadian Poet/Scholar from B.C.
Some 2016 American Sentences
I used to post my best American Sentences at the end of every year, or shortly into the new one. But once I published my first book of such poems, I thought it best for people who got something out...
We Shall Overcomb (& Other Signs from the Seattle Womxn’s March)
My partner Bhakti Watts and I did not have Pussy Hats, but we made a decision to march in the Seattle Womxn's March yesterday starting at Judkins Park and we were glad we did. We had sunshine for...
Racist Cascadia?
I was tagged in a Facebook post today because it was related to the concept of Cascadia and due to my work as a bioregionalist in the bioregion known by some as Cascadia. The post by Brian McCracken...
American Sentence 1.11.17
1.11.17 - Here is a business opportunity - Donald Trump urinal cakes. #AmericanSentences
American Sentence 1.10.17
1.10.17 - Paraphrasing Ezra Pound: "Poetry is fake news that stays fake." #AmericanSentences
PC or 21st Century?
I have had a fascinating and enlightening dialog with an editor and Disability Activist that ended up with the publication of my (slightly) edited love poem for 2016 in a e-journal that puts me in...
Cumberland, Desolation Sound, BC
What a way to end 2016 and bring in 2017, but in a heated outdoor bathtub on the water! Bhakti and I are guests of Gary Hamilton and Adelia (Nicola) MacWilliam, as we're working with Adelia to...
Bury 2016
2016 is a good year to bury things. How many years get their own self-deprecating meme? And the notables who died this year is impressive, if you're impressed by death: Muhammad Ali, David Bowie,...
Ruth Lepson/Miriam Nichols on Charles Olson
Wonderful to see the review of Letters for Olson by Brooks Johnson in Hyperallergenic and just to have this book in the world. The headline of the article states well this book's theme: In Letters...
Claudia Castro Luna Interview (Cipota Under The Moon)
I had the good fortune to interview a former Washington State Poet Laureate, Claudia Castro Luna via Zoom on June 17, 2022. We talked about her new book Cipota Under the Moon, her exodus from El...
Poetics as Cosmology Workshops Fall 2022
Poetics as Cosmology (Intro to Spontaneous Composition) A five week online (Zoom) workshop for people who have had a little experience in spontaneous poetry composition and want more. Join Cascadia...
Margin Shift June 16, 2022!
(This post has been updated to include Tay Stafford, who has just been added to the bill. There WILL be streaming on Facebook for those who can't make it down to Belltown.) I am delighted to read at...
In Honor of David McCloskey “The Father of Cascadia”
David McCloskey passed away on July 3. In honor of his lifetime of work to create and spread a culture that was deeply connected to the Cascadian bioregion, Cascadian Prophets, which owes more than just its name to his work, we want to share this interview from October, 2013. Find it transcribed on our website.
To listen to the original audio of this interview, click here.
Check out more of what the Lab does here, and listen to more current and archival podcasts on Spotify or on our website.
In Honor of David McCloskey "The Father of Cascadia"
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.
Check out more of what the Lab does here, and listen to more current and archival podcasts on Spotify or on our website.
To get original poetry right in your mailbox this summer, check out the Poetry Postcard Fest.