Ian Boyden and Sam Hamill on Habitations
On November 10, 2012, Sam Hamill and Ian Boyden joined together to do an interview on Hamill’s chapbook Border Songs, as well as Habitations, a collaboration between the poet, Sam, and the painter, Ian. Fewer than a dozen copies were made of the book, although in the interview Boyden recommends you forget whatever notions you hold about what a book is and can be. About 3 feet high and 10 inches wide, the cover made of fossilized maple, this book was the result of the organic collaboration between these two artists. Each page was a painting done by Boyden, using his typically atypical pigments and binders such as carbon, shark teeth, meteorites, and fresh water pearls, with the text of Hamill’s poem etched into the painting by laser. In addition to the interview, at the Spring Street Center on the corner of 15th and Spring in Seattle’s Cherry Hill neighborhood, Boyden spoke and took a Q&A about the collaboration and his methods, and Hamill gave a reading from his chapbook Border Songs, published by Word Palace Press. (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4)
Sam Hamill was the Founding Editor of Copper Canyon Press and author of more than forty volumes of poetry, essays, and celebrated translations from ancient Chinese, Japanese, Greek, Latin, and Estonian.
Ian Boyden is an artist and writer currently working in the Blue Mountains southeast of Walla Walla, Washington. His practice in paintings and books, displays a fundamental drive to link the literary, material, and visual imagination. He makes his own paints and inks from unusual materials such as meteorites, shark teeth, and freshwater pearls. His work has been exhibited widely and is found in many public collections including Reed College, the Portland Art Museum, the Victoria & Albert Museum, and the Suzhou Museum. Website: https://ianboyden.com/
To hear the original audio, Hamill’s reading, and Boyden’s talk, see the archival post here.
Check out more of what the Lab does here, and listen to more current and archival podcasts on Spotify or on our website.
Podcast (prophets-podcast): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 42:52 — 58.9MB)
Bill Barillas on Theodore Roethke
In this edition of Cascadian Prophets, we hear Bill Barillas on Theodore Roethke. Bill Barillas is the editor of A Field Guide to the Poetry of Theodore Roethke and serves on the board of The Friends of Roethke Foundation.
Check out more of what the Lab does here, and listen to more current and archival podcasts on Spotify or on our website.
Podcast (prophets-podcast): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 53:18 — 73.2MB)
Thom Hartmann on the theft of Human Rights via corporate personhood
In this interview with Thom Hartmann on the theft of human rights via corporate personhood and its history, he discussed the East India Company, the Boston Tea Party & an 1886 Supreme Court decision, Santa Clara vs. Southern Pacific that was twisted to give corporations human rights. He went on to illustrate its ramifications and solutions to the problem of corporations operating with rights designed for human beings. Thom Hartmann is an international relief worker, psychotherapist, father and author of over a dozen books, including the subject of this interview: Unequal Protection: The Rise of Corporate Dominance & the Theft of Human Rights.
Original Airdate: October 20, 2002
To hear the original audio of this interview, click here.
Check out more of what the Lab does here, and listen to more current and archival podcasts on Spotify or on our website.
Podcast (prophets-podcast): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 44:50 — 61.6MB)
Jan 2, 2026 Interview with Cornelius Eady on Proof
You’d expect poetry to be part of an event inaugurating such a figure and that the poem offered for the occasion would be bland, written by a committee, or full of platitudes, but the poem delivered yesterday matched perfectly the tone of a campaign that appears to be built on mutual respect, vision, human rights and empathy.
Podcast (prophets-podcast): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 36:22 — 50.0MB)
Trevor Carolan on Making Waves: Reading BC and PNW Literature
If artists are the antennae of the race, then the poets and writers of British Columbia are onto something that the general populace may be ready to recognize and act on. That is the West Coast of the U.S. and that of Canada has more in common with each other than with the power centers back east, Ottawa and Washington, DC, New York City and Toronto. But some go a step further in recognizing a new culture emanating from what some call Cascadia.
Trevor Carolan is one of them and if you believe the culture and literature of a nation is a critical component of any nation’s foundation, a new book he has edited begins to tell that story. Making Waves: Reading BC and Pacific Northwest Literature is that book and Trevor’s our guest. He teaches English and Creative Writing at the University of Fraser Valley and had published 14 books of poetry, translation, non-fiction, fiction and anthologies.
Check out more of what the Lab does at https://cascadiapoeticslab.org/, and listen to more current and archival podcasts at https://cascadiapoeticslab.org/cascadian-prophets-podcast-2/.
Podcast (prophets-podcast): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:50 — 39.6MB)
Gary Copeland Lilley on Raven on the Moaners’ Bench
“The first pew in the old time Black church is the Moaners’ bench.” – Gary Copeland Lilley
Artificial intelligence and it’s racist assumptions suggests “mourners’ bench” as a clarification, but the moaners’ bench refers to the audible expression of those in spiritual need due to grief, the blues, or simply the harshness of our time.
Raven On The Moaners’ Bench is the title of the latest collection of poetry from Gary Copeland Lilley. Originally from North Carolina, now living in Cascadia, Gary has published nine books of poetry, has work in several anthologies, is a graduate of the Warren Wilson College Creative Writing MFA program, is a Cave Canem Fellow and serves as Artistic Director of the Port Townsend Writers Conference.
Check out more of what the Lab does at https://cascadiapoeticslab.org/, and listen to more current and archival podcasts at https://cascadiapoeticslab.org/cascadian-prophets-podcast-2/.
Podcast (prophets-podcast): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 57:17 — 78.7MB)
Tess Gallagher on Surrounded by Weasels and Josie Gray
To preserve a bit of one’s art is a true act of love, even if the book of stories it comes out of is titled Surrounded by Weasels: Stories from the Northwest of Ireland. The late Josie Gray is the story teller, and his widow Tess Gallagher, the world renowned poet, is the editor…
Podcast (prophets-podcast): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:09:20 — 95.2MB)
In Memory of Jack Foley
This interview is brought to you in memory of Jack Foley, who passed away earlier this month at the age of 85. The interview is with Jack and his wife Adelle, who were poets from Oakland, California.
Podcast (prophets-podcast): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 43:43 — 60.1MB)
Vodou Visions with Sallie Ann Glassman
In this interview on her book Vodou Visions with Sallie Ann Glassman, she discusses becoming a Manbo, or Vodou Priestess, Vodou, its history as a religion created by enslaved Africans, common misunderstandings about it…
Podcast (prophets-podcast): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 43:41 — 60.0MB)
Ian Boyden and Sam Hamill on Habitations
On November 10, 2012, Sam Hamill and Ian Boyden joined together to do an interview on Hamill's...
Bill Barillas on Theodore Roethke
In this edition of Cascadian Prophets, we hear Bill Barillas on Theodore Roethke. Bill Barillas is...
Thom Hartmann on the theft of Human Rights via corporate personhood
In this interview with Thom Hartmann on the theft of human rights via corporate personhood and its...
Cascadian Prophets: Interviews 1999-2023
is the second collection of transcribed interviews taken from the 30 year history of the Cascadia Poetics Lab and conducted by Paul E Nelson, CPL Founder. Interviewees include 7 USAmericans and 7 Canadians, 7 women and 7 men and 7 people who have died and 7 that at the time of publication (February 2, 2024) are still alive. Interviewees:
Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs – Mary Norbert Körte – Robert Bringhurst – Barry McKinnon – Colleen J. McElroy – Brenda Hillman – Daphne Marlatt – Diane di Prima – Miriam Nichols – Stephen Collis- Charles Potts – Robin Blaser – Peter Culley – Sam Hamill
The book is $30 plus shipping and is available online here.
Cascadian Prophets: Interviews 1999-2023
is the second collection of transcribed interviews taken from the 30 year history of the Cascadia Poetics Lab and conducted by Paul E Nelson, CPL Founder. Interviewees include 7 USAmericans and 7 Canadians, 7 women and 7 men and 7 people who have died and 7 that at the time of publication (February 2, 2024) are still alive. Interviewees:
Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs – Mary Norbert Körte – Robert Bringhurst – Barry McKinnon – Colleen J. McElroy – Brenda Hillman – Daphne Marlatt – Diane di Prima – Miriam Nichols – Stephen Collis- Charles Potts – Robin Blaser – Peter Culley – Sam Hamill
The book is $30 plus shipping and is available online here.
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Harry and Cleo Davenport Elser, wedding photo
Diana Elser
“Donation in memory of Harry Elser and Cleo Davenport Elser, two Montana ranch kids. Harry was a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. We learned to enjoy each place we lived – the Missouri River in Great Falls, Montana, the Rio Grande in El Paso, Texas – the Great Salt Lake Basin, and always – Montana.”
Glen and Jessie Dodge
Sally Hedges-Blanquez
“For the memory of Glenn and Jessie Dodge, a World War One Vet and his wife, world-class grandparents and farmers in the town of Gate, Washington.”
Glen Dodge
