Burning Word
Burning Word at Icicle Creek
May 21-22, 2011
History & Inspiration
For 5 years, the Washington Poets Association put on a wonderful springtime poetry performance festival on Whidbey Island, called Burning Word. Burning Word was a tremendous artistic success, and a joy to all. Burning Word at Icicle Creek is an effort to revive this tradition.
2011 Burning Word – Basic Information
Burning Word is a festival of poetic fire. We focus primarily on poetry performance. Sam Hamill and Paul Nelson will facilitate the master class workshop.
The Master Class – Canyon Wren Concert Hall, May 22, 9:30am-12:30pm. Entitled The Way of Poetry, Sam Hamill and Paul Nelson will guide participants on an exploration of the role of the poet, and the deeper meaning of poetry in the life of society. This will be a roaming conversation, not a lecture, and participants will help shape the discourse. This is a rare opportunity to benefit from the wisdom Sam has gleaned in a lifetime of devotion to the craft. Please bring one short poem, finished or unfinished, for discussion. Space limited – click HERE to reserve your place.
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.
