In celebration of winning the Humanities Washington Award, we are sharing the letters of support and recommendation provided by CPL staff and colleagues that assisted us in receiving the award. We owe much of our programming and success to the dedication and kindness of our board, volunteers, staff and supporters. Funding for our nonprofit relies on the generosity of organizations like Humanities WA and our supporters! You can learn more about how to help support Cascadia Poetics Lab’s programming for 2026 HERE.

Dr. Jason Wirth is a former board member of Cascadia Poetics Lab and is assistant managing editor for Watershed Press. Jason has served as a facilitator and emcee at multiple Cascadia Poetry Festivals and was an co-editor of Cascadian Zen Volumes I and II alongside Paul Nelson and Adelia MacWilliam. Thank you for your kind recommendation for CPL to win this award, Jason! You can read his letter of recommendation below!

Jason Wirth’s Letter of Recommendation for Cascadia Poetics Lab:

I am writing to recommend without equivocation and with enthusiasm the Cascadia Poetics Lab for a Humanities Washington Award at the level of a small (<$250,000 annual budget) Community-serving, Not-For-Profit Organization.

Over the last three decades, this organization has emerged as a vital and indispensable arts organization that excels in providing accessible, topical, and enriching humanities programming, especially at the level of poetry as well as ecological activism. Spearheaded by Paul Nelson, the Cascadia Poetics Lab has emerged as integral to both Seattle as a city and Washington as a state.

I note first that Seattle has been designated as a UNESCO City of Literature. I belong to the many who are proud of this distinction, and it is organizations like the Cascadia Poetics Lab that endow both the city and the state with this honorable and laudable status.

I note also that the Poetics Lab has always operated on a shoestring budget, delivering rich and vital programming (recorded interviews with literary figures and activists, a celebrated annual poetry festival, important publications, and the annual Postcard Fest, etc.) for a very low operating cost. It is, so to speak, a huge return on a small investment. The organization has long been proud of its economic efficiency. I note also that the Poetics Lab’s dedication to poetry far exceeds poetry as a pleasant diversion or interesting hobby. It attempts to marshal poetic energies to address the ecological crises of our day. Through its poetic interventions and contributions, it hopes to help make the residents of Washington more aware of what it means to be a part of the Cascadian bioregion.

The Poetics Lab cultivates community and provides valuable networking as well as literary resources for aspiring writers. I know the organization well, having served on its board for two consecutive terms. It is comprised of hard-working volunteers, who are dedicated to producing resources in the Humanities that promote human flourishing and ecological accountability.

The Poetics Lab is an amazing organization, and I think I share the dream of many in hoping that this grant will give it the leeway to extend its valuable cultural footprint. I hope that you will give them the careful consideration that many of us think they are due.