
Robert Bringhurst The Ridge Interview Part 2
Through his books, I took lessons from Ezra Pound, who was a schoolmaster at heart and had a lot of things to say about what young poets should read and how they should read it. His politics were bonkers, but his ear was a good ear. I learned a lot from him and from others. But it dawned on me one day that my literary schooling had a gaping hole in the center. Except as a colonial construction, the land I was born in – the whole continent and hemisphere I was born in – was missing from this otherwise detailed map of the literary world. It was as if there were no Native American culture, no Native American literature – and I knew this to be false,
Podcast (prophets-podcast): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:28 — 36.3MB)
Robert Bringhurst The Ridge (Interview) Pt. 1
The Ridge is a poem in 20 parts, a meditation on a geological feature of Quadra Island, a large island in British Columbia, just north of the Strait of Georgia, and thus the Salish Sea. But the poem is also a meditation on what’s happening on the island and on the planet we share in what’s been described as devastating imagery. I would add that it’s a meditation on the human species as well, at this time in the early Anthropocene.
Robert Bringhurst is the author. Trained initially in the sciences at MIT, he makes his life in the humanities from his home on Quadra Island, where he’s worked in poetry, Native American linguistics and typography. An officer of the Order of Canada, former Guggenheim Fellow and winner of the Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence. He’s our guest today to talk about The Ridge. Robert, thanks for your time and hospitality.
Podcast (prophets-podcast): Play in new window | Download ()
Lorna Dee Cervantes Interview (April on Olympia)
Lorna Dee Cervantes Interview on April on Olympia
Podcast (prophets-podcast): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:12:25 — 99.5MB)
John Tanner on Richard Brautigan
John Tanner on Richard Brautigan and How To Make an America
Podcast (prophets-podcast): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:05:31 — 90.0MB)
Stephen Thomas Interview Part 2
The second half of our July 4, 2023 interview with Steven Thomas, former Seattle poet, co-founder of the Seattle Poetry Festival and former teacher at University Prep. He discussed his life, struggles with addictions, move to Germany and his latest book of poetry What is Between Us.
Podcast (prophets-podcast): Play in new window | Download ()
Interview with Stephen Thomas, Part 1
Before moving to Europe, Auburn, Washington native Stephen Thomas was quite active in the Seattle...
Interview with Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs
What a joy to engage Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs for a Cascadian Prophets podcast interview. I...
The Columbia River Confluence Project
The latest Cascadian Prophets podcast is an interview with Ann Batchelor Hursey, author of Field...
IPRA – Making Peace in Trinidad
The International Peace Research Association gathered May 17-21, 2023, in Port of Spain, Trinidad...
An interview with Jewell James
On 28 August, 2014, your humble narrator had the honor of conducting an interview with Jewell...
Andrew Schelling on Forests, Temples, Glacial Rivers
It is said of the poetry of Andrew Schelling that he is “locating language in watersheds and...
Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun Lets’lo:tseltun on Unceded Territories
This interview with Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun Lets’lo:tseltun was originally recorded in August of...

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.
Thank You to Our
Cascadian Prophets Podcast Sponsors
For believing in us and making this podcast happen.

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



