Mission: Empowering people to practice poetry & deepen connections to place, self & the present moment.
We believe that poetry is the nexus at which self-knowledge, bioregionalism and expansive creativity converge. Cascadia Poetics Lab is a vibrant community whose workshops, festivals, and opportunities for connection can open the door to transformative experiences.
We seek to empower articulation of the heart-mind world of place via a democratic approach to poetry, the arts, restorative justice and other practices of intimate ecological awakening.
UBI: 601 510 184
EIN: 91-1618296
UIE: LA5LAMBP6769
SWV: 0228027
WA Registration #: 1102335
March 15, 2023 IRS Determination Letter
CPL Board Member Responsibilities (12.14.2024)
Main Programs
The Poetry Postcard Fest founded in 2007 is an annual 56 day experiment in spontaneity and community-building where registered participants send postcard poems to other poets on their list.
The Cascadia Poetry Festival is a gathering of poets and bioregionalists to consider how prioritizing natural and cultural boundaries, rather than arbitrary political ones, is a potent approach to addressing Anthropogenic Climate Disorder. A key theme in the work of Gary Snyder, we believe that bioregionalism is an inherently political act to focus energy locally and thus the effort to connect with poets and writers from Cascadia, the bioregion in which we live.
Our historic audio interview archive with audio taken from over 700 interviews conducted since 1993 and the Cascadian Prophets podcast.
Publishing, such as anthologies like Make it True: Poetry from Cascadia and Cascadian Zen via our imprint Watershed Press.
Online (& in person) workshops such as Poetics as Cosmology.
Strategic Intent Graphic May 2023
History
Cascadia Poetics LAB was founded December 14, 1993 (with a different name) in Auburn, WA, by Paul E Nelson, with the mission of creating a weekly, syndicated radio public affairs interview program that aired, at the height of syndication, on 18 stations weekly, including KING-FM, KMTT-FM, the Mountain, KZOK, KJR AM & FM, and stations in Bellingham, Portland & Victoria, BC. We’ve created over 700 hours of interview programming, much of which is online at www.AmericanProphets.org. See the CPL Board here. See also our September 1, 2021 name-change press release here.
ABOUT SPLAB
SPLAB history is linked here. For a time we were Global Voices Radio and we’ve maintained our archive site here.
Daphne Marlatt’s testimonial about the Cascadia Poetry Festival at CPF8