Dec 14 Living Room, Science. Really – Mary Paynter Sherwin

New solar observatory telescope sunspot close-up

New solar observatory telescope sunspot close-up

It’s the holidays again, and right now, writing is probably the furthest thing from our minds. And if we do manage to get a single moment of silence to write anything, it’s bound to be filled with family drama, alcohol, or one of those other trite associations we have with what it means to be “festive”. Predictable and depressing.

Time to find some new inspiration. And Mary Paynter Sherwin has just the remedy.

Science.

Yup, that’s right. This week at the Living Room, we’ll look in the very last place you’d expect to find any romance, beauty, or spiritual power this time of year: the minds of scientists. Mary will bring an excerpt from Schroedinger’s mystical writings (the cat guy, remember him?) and some science-spawned poetry to get you going. And no, we don’t mean clichéd lonely moons or silly shooting stars. We’re talking full-on Upanishads-meets-quantum-theory brain food for your soul. You won’t believe what the nerds have been thinking about.

No previous science experience is required. You don’t even have to like science. Promise. But you do have to be there at 7pm. The universe has a pretty strict timetable.

There’ll be plenty of time to read some of your work too, geeky or not. Bring at least 8 copies of something you’ve been working on, and we’ll give you supportive and helpful commentary. And of course, listeners are always welcome. Living Room happens in the new SPLAB in the Cultural Corner of the old Columbia School, between Rainier AV S and 36th AV S, on Edmunds. We’re 2 blocks from the Columbia City Link Light Rail Station. Parking is available on the school grounds. Bring a fin ($5, or more) for the bowler’s hat so we can keep the doors open.

Hubble Anniversary

Hubble Anniversary

About Splabman

Poet & interviewer Paul E Nelson founded SPLAB (Seattle Poetics LAB) & the Cascadia Poetry Festival. Since 1993, SPLAB has produced hundreds of poetry events & 600 hours of interview programming with legendary poets & whole systems activists including Allen Ginsberg, Michael McClure, Joanne Kyger, Robin Blaser, Diane di Prima, Daphne Marlatt, Nate Mackey, George Bowering, Barry McKinnon, José Kozer, Brenda Hillman & many others. Paul’s books include American Prophets (interviews 1994-2012) (2018) American Sentences (2015) A Time Before Slaughter (2009) and Organic in Cascadia: A Sequence of Energies (2013). Co-Editor of Make It True: Poetry From Cascadia (2015), 56 Days of August: Poetry Postcards (2017) and Samthology: A Tribute to Sam Hamill (2019) Make it True meets Medusario (2019), he’s presented poetry/poetics in London, Brussels, Nanaimo, Qinghai & Beijing, China, has had work translated into Spanish, Chinese & Portuguese & writes an American Sentence every day. Awarded a residency at The Lake, from the Morris Graves Foundation in Loleta, CA, he’s published work in Golden Handcuffs Review, Zen Monster, Hambone, and elsewhere. Winner of the 2014 Robin Blaser Award from The Capilano Review, he is engaged in a 20 year bioregional cultural investigation of Cascadia and lives in Rainier Beach, in the Cascadia bioregion’s Cedar River watershed.
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