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.
Seasonal American Sentences
The Rad Santa reading last night at Lottie's Lounge was a huge success. Graham Isaac hosted and invited me along with three other writers, including Jocelyn McDonald, Chris Gusta and Ra'anan David...
Jose Kozer Interview (L.A. N.13.13)
While I am not the guy who got the chance to interview José Kozer recently during his visit to Southern California, I was present as he responded to the questions of Cal State U at L.A. Ph.D....
Sunday Holiday Reading at Lottie’s
For years there was a popular open mic at Lottie Motts, which was a cafe in Columbia City. Now the coffee has given way to Tequila and the Angie's crowd has migrated across the street to be served...
Morris Graves Selected Letters
One of my goals during my recent residency at The Lake, awarded by the Morris Graves Foundation, was to get to know Graves better and have a deeper appreciation for his work. Mission accomplished,...
Bay Area Poets Age w/ Grace
Our recent family road trip to Southern California (or SoCal as the car ads and meteorologists there say) and back had its share of beauty and difficulty. My Cousin Steve O'Connell gave us a week at...
The Four Hoarse Men Saturday 12.14.13
From Anne Sweet: Hey Friends – It’s almost time for the big Equinox Studios art bash and block party! You are all invited to 6555 5th Ave. S. in West Georgetown on Saturday, December 14, 6-10pm ......
David McCloskey on Cascadia Parts 4-6
David McCloskey is a retired Professor of Sociology at Seattle University, and founder of the Cascadia Institute. I got the chance to interview him on October 30, 2013, at his home in Eugene,...
98. Why Redwings Sing
When asked how my residency at the Lake, the final home of legendary artist Morris Graves, my stock response has been "stunning and miraculous." I was awarded a residency almost a year ago by the...
David McCloskey on Cascadia Part 3
David McCloskey is a retired Professor of Sociology at Seattle University, and founder of the Cascadia Institute. I got the chance to interview him on October 30, 2013, at his home in Eugene,...
R.I.P. Michael McClure, 20-Oct-1932 – 4-May-2020
I will never forget meeting Michael McClure, interviewing him in 1995 at the old KZOK-FM studios on Queen Anne Hill, him taking me out for Vietnamese food saying lunch was "on Penguin" (his...
PEN America Emergency Writers Fund
Artists have to train themselves to not link their own self-esteem to outside validation. In THIS culture, the job is much harder because of what the composer Charles Wuorinen said to the New York...
Sam Green’s ATBS Binding
Huge gratitude goes out to Washington's first Poet Laureate, Sam Green, who has bound my new book A Time Before Slaughter/Pig War: & Other Songs of Cascadia. He did it a week or so ago and sent...
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.