SPLAB’s first bioregional poetics retreat is this weekend. Becoming Cascadian is an intensification of the work done at the Cascadia Poetry Festivals we’ve staged over the years and Andrew Schelling, our keynote poet is set to arrive on Thursday. There are some slots available and we’ll need to have your paid registration by Friday morning to guarantee your involvement. (Paypal $80 to pen@splab.org) An email will go out to registered participants shortly. If you have NOT signed up, thanks to Humanities Washington, Red Wing Café, Poets & Writers and the Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, here are some ways you can get a sense of the dialog happening:

Thursday, May 31, 2018, 7pm – free and open to the public, Zen Meditation at Seattle U Eco-Sangha, St. Ignatius Chapel, 901 12th Ave, Seattle, WA 98122.

Saturday, June 2, 2pm, The Practice of Outside, talk, interview and discussion, free and open to the public, at Red Wing Café, 9272 57th Ave S, Seattle, WA 98118.

Sunday, June 3, 10am, Tour of Kubota Garden, led by docent Jason Wirth, free and open to the public, 9817 55th Ave S, Seattle, WA 98118.

Sunday, 5pm, Reading free and open to the public with Schelling, Mark Gonnerman, Adelia MacWilliam, Paul Nelson and Jason Wirth, Open Books, 2414 N 45th St, Seattle, WA 98103.

My thanks to Andrew Schelling, Jason Wirth, Bhakti Watts, the SPLAB Board and key volunteers, and all sponsoring organizations and venues.