The 7th Cascadia Poetry Festival is postponed. The iteration planned for April 30-May 2, 2021 at the Multiverse on San Juan Island was cancelled due to Covid-19.

The main page for the 2021 fest was: http://cascadiapoetryfestival.org/cpf-sji-2021/ 85 year old Beat Nun Mary Norbert Körte from Willets, CA (extreme Southern Cascadia) is part of The Practice of Cascadia/The Practice of a Life panel and Miriam Nichols, Sharon Thesen and Daphne Marlatt are part of the panel looking at the life and legacy of Robin Blaser.

There will be many breakout sessions connected to both topics and one dedicated to the Island Marble Butterfly by Bill Yake:

The Island Marble Butterfly – A Cascadian Endemic and Inspiration (handouts)

Believed to be extinct until rediscovered at American Camp on San Juan Island in 1998, the Island Marble Butterfly is a true endemic – limited (as far as is known) to San Juan and Lopez Islands. One of the last colonies persists on National Park Service (NPS) land just a couple of miles from the Multiverse – site of the 2020 Cascadia Poetry Festival. Like us, its future is precarious. In this breakout session we plan to visit American Camp where NPS staff will show us how they are working to grow this the Island Marble colony by hand-raising butterflies from eggs, preserving their food plants, and improving their considerably abused habitat. It is not an easy task. We should also have some time to consider the role of butterflies and moths (ephemeral, evasive, and often pale) as they have inspired a range of poems and poets — including examples from Vladimir Nabokov, Robin Blaser, Jim Morrison, and several poets native to Cascadia. Participants should bring a notebook (Rite-in-the-Rain might be best given weather uncertainty), a pen/pencil, outdoor clothing and sturdy shoes. Binoculars and a camera might also be helpful. Facilitated by Bill Yake