CPF8 at the Richard Hugo House!

This year, we are excited to be working with fellow Seattle literary arts organization The Richard Hugo House to host the main day of the 8th Cascadia Poetry Festival, Saturday,  November 2, 2024. We are planning two panel discussions, one on Issei Zen and Other Migrations and one on Wilson’s Bowl, an indigenous artifact just off Salt Spring Island, BC, which was the title of a book by late B.C. poet Phyllis Webb, a much under-appreciated poet in the U.S. and in Canada. We are planning all sorts of mid-day activities from 12N-2PM and will open up attendance in the afternoon for two free sessions of Floricanto Cascadia. This is to be organized by CPL Board Member Lorna Dee Cervantes. She describes it this way:

“Floricanto” means “Flower & Song” in Spanish from the Nahuatl (Mexíca) word for Poetry, Xochitl In Cuícatl. “The only thing we humans leave behind when we die are our flowers and our songs.” ~ Nezhualcoatl. So we share them. On the “Day of the Dead”, for the dead, and for each other. Equally. Together.

Fulfilling a prophecy heard from Elders in my early teens about The People of The North (Eagle) and The South (Condor) coming together in “Aztlan” (Place of Herons) in the North, for peace and understanding; that it was time to share secret, sacred ancestral knowledge with all, subjugated knowledges, “because the Earth needs healing” from a world gone “out of balance”: koyaanisqatsi in Hopi. Knowledges in which Poetry gives us access—in this place, now.

In the spirit of this precolumbian tradition, ritual, and celebration of our beloved dead in poetry, the Cascadia Poetics Lab, in collaboration with Hugo House, opens its doors, and presents in its 30th year, “Floricanto Cascadia” gathers a watershed of poets from this watershed we live in, Cascadia. Established poets alongside poets reading in public for the first time will come together from all cultures, corners and nations—who happen to be in Seattle, Cascadia, Aztlan, on The Day of The Dead during Días de los Muertos on Nov. 2, 2024, for this year’s Cascadia Poetry Festival, 8.

Opening with a Gold Pass Cascadia Poetry Festival reading with Watershed poets from our in-house, Watershed Press anthology, Cascadian Zen, Vol 1, “Floricanto Cascadia” debuts Cascadian Zen, Vol II, followed by a plethora of poets showcasing Mexican, Latina/o, Central & Indigenous American poets, in a curated symphony of 20 voices, closing out the night with an OPEN MIC monopoem reading to our beloved dead. Poets bring a photo/ momento and a copy of the poem to place at the altár dedicated to dead poets, and place on our Poetry Wall.

We have had a few instances of collaboration with the Hugo House in our 30 year history, mostly with workshops facilitated by Paul E Nelson, CPL Founding Director at the house, but this will be by far the most ambitious collaboration and we hope the long histories of our respective organizations will lead to a memorable festival and perhaps an ongoing partnership between the Hugo House and CPL. We give thanks to Pepe Montero and DK Pan for their kind and respectful assistance in making this happen.