Statement in Solidarity with Black Lives Matter

Thanks to Seattle Civic Poet Jourdan Keith for tipping SPLAB off to this, which we present as our statement of solidarity with Black Lives Matter. See also our July 2017 statement: http://splab.org/about-splab/splab-board-statement-of-openness-and-inclusivity/

And see also our statement re: “freedom” in memory of Michael McClure who died 60 days ago:

We find these statements to be essential when the President speaks as he did in South Dakota, July 3, 2020, doubling down on division and humanity’s worst tendencies. May the nightmare be over soon and all the nightmares he represents which BIPOC have been trying to tell everyone else for 500 years.

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Last Call for POPO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SPLAB ISSUES LAST CALL FOR POPO
14TH AUGUST POETRY POSTCARD FEST

Seattle, WA, July 1, 2020—Seattle Poetics LAB (SPLAB), a literary arts-oriented nonprofit organization and organizing entity of the Cascadia Poetry Festival, is now registering writers for the 14th August Poetry Postcard Fest.

We understand the global seriousness of COVID-19 and the situation in which we find ourselves. In this novel time we can use an outlet for creativity. With a name change to POPO this year, the fest, an exercise in spontaneous composition and community building, celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2017 with the release of 56 Days of August. Registration for the 14th edition of the fest is open until July 18.

To participate in POPO, writers first register online at https://popo.submittable.com/submit. Then as soon as each list of 32 participants is filled, lists will be sent out and each each participating poet has until the end of August to write 31 original poems on postcards to be sent to each other person on their list. Postcards can be as simple or as elaborate as the poet wishes.

In 2019 the fest had 424 participants, spread out as far as the United States, the U.K., Australia and Japan. All the fest’s instructions, interviews and facts can now be found at POPO.cards. The fest is the largest annual fundraiser for SPLAB; registration is set at $10 per poet, with donations over this amount also accepted.

Over the past 26 years SPLAB has been instrumental in leading a bioregional cultural investigation using poetics, poetry festivals, publications and education and to building community through shared experience of the spoken and written word. Through the Cascadia Poetry Festival, the organization facilitates an annual gathering of writers, artists, scientists and activists to collaborate, discover and foster deeper connection between all inhabitants and the place itself.

SPLAB (www.splab.org), a Seattle-based nonprofit, was founded in Auburn, Washington, on December 14, 1993.

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Give Big Thanks

SPLAB GOT VERY CLOSE its Give Big goal of $1,500 today, getting to $1,411.54 thanks to several donors, including Larry Lawrence, Buffy Sedlachek, Greg Bem, Carol Sunde, Matthew Trease, Larry Laurence, Sally Hedges-Blanquez, Jared Leising, Clarissa Duran and Holly Hughes. Wow! We are so grateful for this support and via some very high class people. GIVE BIG ACCEPTS DONATIONS UNTIL MAY 15. https://www.givebigwa.org/splab-seattle-poetics-lab

This funding allows us to continue to produce our three main projects: The Cascadia Poetry Festival, POPO – The August POetry POstcard Fest (links in logos below) and our interviews which are currently produced as the project title (& book title) American Prophets.

That we can continue to operate during a pandemic shows how a small and wily organization can adapt and survive. There is a reason we have been around since 1993. We might call SPLAB a “prophetic organization” to use a phrase Fred Moten and Stefano Harney would use in their seminal book The Undercommons.

SPLAB gratitude and huge thanks goes out to all those people who help SPLAB do its thing.

Registration for POPO 2020 (year 14) closes July 18.

 

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Give Big

SPLAB is delighted to participate again in the annual Give Big fundraising effort. This year it happens on May 5 and 6 and we are hoping to raise at least $1,200, but we’re down in revenues about $7,000 this year due to the postponement of the Cascadia Poetry Festival and due to lower involvement in the August POetry POstcard Fest or POPO. Dig that new POPO website!

In fact, if all you could contribute is $10, why not join POPO this year, since it is an expanded postcard season due to the novel situation in which we find ourselves. Registration is open until July 18 and POPO is SPLAB’s largest annual fundraiser, with Give Big second.

Do peruse our listing at Give Big: https://www.givebigwa.org/splab-seattle-poetics-lab as well as the SPLAB Mission, our interviews and our past Cascadia Poetry Fests. We’ve done a great deal of work in 26 years, but you can imagine how tough things are right now. Thanks for considering.

Paul E Nelson
Founding Director
SPLAB

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