On Sunday, 23 February, 2025, Brazilian poet Flávia Rocha launched her new book, Nature Talk, published by Carbonation Press, on Zoom with poets and an audience from around the world. I was grateful to participate with other Carbornation Press authors, reading poetry that centered around Flávia’s theme of conversing with and about nature (Each time we smile at each other, it is a conversation with nature). Flávia began the conversation for us all by reading poems from her book, some of which conversed with her poetic ancestors, such as Cecilia Meireles. I had never heard of Meireles before, but I am very glad to be introduced and to begin to explore her work. Flávia’s poems, which she read in English and Portuguese, resonated deeply with me for this reason, as I find a lot of inspiration in my poetic and artistic (and genealogical) ancestors as well.
The reading as a whole was like healthy soil, filled with the residue of ancestors, each syllable like a bug or a mineral deposit or mycelium working to fill its role in the greater whole. The result was a whole greater than the sum of its parts, both at the scale of the individual poem and the entire reading. Even across the globe, from Brazil to England to Cascadia, the energy was high and the community was vibrant.
What left the greatest impression on me, perhaps, was how Flávia, and those close to her, Endi Hartigan and Virna Teixeira, spoke about her approach to creating poetry. It is a poetics that I admire quite a bit, and strive to create in my own life and work as well. In her poetry she converses with her poetic ancestors, she roots her language in her place, her particular dharma position, and her poems seem to resonate with the knowledge that she, and they, are small parts of a greater being, the Earth.
In my time practicing poetry in Cascadia, I have come across a number of brilliant poets whose practices emerge from a similar place as Flávia’s, such as Paul Nelson, who brought the event to a close with a potent section of his most recent Day Song (see more about Day Songs here and here). The whole event felt like it emerged from a bioregional poetics. It is an approach that is congruent across bioregions, but who’s particularities vary from region to region. In Cascadia, for example, I might look to Denise Levertov or Gary Snyder instead of Meireles, and the Western Red Cedar and Douglas Fir might feature more prominently than the Palm, while I look to the Duwamish, or other Coastal Salish peoples, to follow and learn more about how to live where I live.
It was an honor to share the virtual stage, presented by Greg Bem, with Flávia Rocha, Virna Teixeira, Endi Hartigan, and Paul E. Nelson. I look forward to reading Nature Talk and continuing to participate in the global Carbonation Press community.
Thank you. Yes to nature and more conversations!