The annual Give Big fundraiser for Seattle area non-profit organizations has developed into a significant source of funds for SPLAB, an organization that has created an incredible amount of work in the 24+ years it has been in existence:
450 hours of radio interview programming and podcast interviews after the end of the syndicated radio program;
Perhaps a thousand poetry events, including the Cascadia Poetry Festival in Seattle in 2012, 2014 and 2016, in Nanaimo, BC in 2015 (in partnership with WordStorm), in Tacoma in October 2017 (in partnership with the Tacoma Poetry Festival and in Cumberland, BC, in September 2017, in partnership with the Cascadia Poetry LAB;
Facilitated Visits to King County by Michael McClure, Anne Waldman, Andrew Schelling, Brenda Hillman, Nate Mackey, Eileen Myles, Wanda Coleman, Jerome Rothenberg, Diane di Prima, Joanne Kyger, George Bowering, George Stanley, Daphne Marlatt, Barry McKinnon, Victor Hernandez Cruz, Adrian Castro, Ed Sanders, Ethelbert Miller and other legendary poets;
Workshops, Teen Slams, Critique Circles…
In 2018 we are staging the first Becoming Cascadian retreat and helping to organize the Deep in Cascadia retreat in Cumberland, BC, and we are working on securing funding to sustain the Cascadia Poetry Festival somewhere in King County, resuming in 2019 or 2020.
I sat down with Paul Nelson, SPLAB founding director, to find out about the upcoming retreat SPLAB is bringing to the Cascadia region.
First, what is Cascadia?
Cascadia is a bioregion that begins in the south at Cape Mendocino, at the beginning of the Cascadia subduction zone, goes north to Mt. Logan and includes Yakutat, Alaska, and the eastern border is mostly the Continental Divide, except in the south where the Great Basin (and Ranges) bioregion cuts out a hunk of Oregon. The definitive maps are created by David McCloskey and available at his Cascadia Institute website.
What is the Becoming Cascadian retreat?
The retreat will be held in (mostly) the Rainier Beach neighborhood in Seattle on May 31 through June 3. It’s a community-building event designed for poets, artists and bioregionalists to gather, share strategies, discuss our role as humans in this time of ecological crisis and end-stage empire. We will also make connections and support one another in our efforts to create the deepest gestures in response to this situation and how that relates to Cascadia.
Paul, you say this is a retreat. What do you mean by retreat? What makes it different from a conference?
Attendance is limited; it’s designed to be a more intimate event. We have one keynote poet. Much of the event’s agenda will be developed organically. During the opening circle Friday night, participants will be given the opportunity to offer a breakout session of their own design. Scheduling will be done via a democratic process.
Tell me a little about the keynote speaker, Andrew Schelling.
Andrew has taught at Naropa Institute for 30 years. He’s a poet and translator who taught himself Arapaho and translates Sanskrit. There’s no one alive who understands the confluence of bioregionalism and poetics better than this man. This is a unique opportunity for participants to connect with a poet working at a very deep level with a renowned commitment to place.
What should I expect from the retreat?
Most of the retreat will be held in Rainier Beach, overlooking the lake. Thursday we sit in Zazen at St. Ignatius at Seattle U. (Optional). On Friday night, there will be a dinner and opening circle, with introductions, in Rainier Beach. That’s the time participants can propose breakout sessions. Saturday will be the breakout sessions and keynote interview/discussion. Sunday is a tour of Kubota Gardens with Zen monk Dr. Jason Tetsuzen Wirth, a closing circle, and a closing reading at Open Books in Seattle’s Wallingford neighborhood.
I seethere are public events attached to this retreat. Which are they?
Three events will open to the public: the Zen meditation session at Seattle University’s St. Ignatius Temple, the keynote discussion/interview with Andrew Schelling at Redwing Café, and the closing reading at Open Books.
OK, how do I register?
Registration is limited, and advance registration is required. The retreat is $80, plus meals. To register, send $80 through PayPal to pen (at) splab (d0t) org by May 29, 2018. Participants will received a confirmation email with all the salient details.
I’m psyched! Where can I find a schedule and more information?
It’s getting more difficult to find spaces that welcome poets. One that worked well for a couple of months is making other plans for the monthly night of poetry that we started in December 2017. We’re grateful to Jude’s for the run, even if it was shorter than we had hoped for, but we expect a good night for 98118 resident T. Clear for Monday, April 2.
Sign-up 7 – 7:30, show starts at 8, T. at 8:40 – 8:50
Easy Speak’s most intrepid poet
T. CLEAR, a Seattle native, is a founder of Floating Bridge Press. She has been writing and publishing for nearly forty years. Her work has appeared in many journals including Poetry Northwest, Cascadia Review, Fine Madness, Poetry Atlanta, Cirque Journal, Seattle Review , Crab Creek Review, The Moth, Terrain and numerous anthologies. She is inspired by the infinite possible variations in color and light that she is fortunate enough to explore daily in her day job working in sandblasted glass. And she would much rather muck out the chicken coop than write a bio.
The annual Give Big fundraiser for Seattle area non-profit organizations has developed into a significant source of funds for SPLAB, an organization that has created an incredible amount of work in the 24+ years it has been in existence:
In 2018 we are staging the first Becoming Cascadian retreat and helping to organize the Deep in Cascadia retreat in Cumberland, BC, and we are working on securing funding to sustain the Cascadia Poetry Festival somewhere in King County, resuming in 2019 or 2020.
