Cascadian Prophets

Cascadian Prophets

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The Cascadian Prophets podcast features poets, culture workers, indigenous leaders and mostly people making a difference in the bioregion known as Cascadia. This area goes from Cape Mendocino, California, to Mt. Logan, Alaska and inland basically to the continental divide. The podcast also calls upon the rich audio archive of the Cascadia Poetics LAB from ten years of syndicated radio interview programs on whole systems approaches to issues.

Paul E. Nelson

Homeland of the Duwamish & Muckleshoot Peoples


    • May 20, 2025 LATEST EPISODE
    • monthly NEW EPISODES
    • 46m AVG DURATION
    • 57 EPISODES


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    Latest episodes from Cascadian Prophets

    Sam O’Hana on How to Support Working Class Poets

    Play Episode Listen Later May 20, 2025 59:28


    When I said that what's good for general society is also good for poets, I'm talking about a series of cultural opportunities where a much wider stretch of people are allowed to take the opportunity to become writers. I came back from a conference last week where I presented some research on the demographic aspects of the New American poets. The poets that were born and came to maturity in the early to mid-20th century were beneficiaries of broad national scale longevity gains. This [includes] things like pushbacks against tuberculosis, against polio, against poor nutrition and infant mortality. These are gains that were made by the medical and scientific institutions, but also by general prosperity, by making more food available to more people and making that food shelf stable for longer. So, when you talk about what might make it possible for poor people to do more creative work, you could start by saying well we should just give people more money, but the fact of the matter is that plenty of people already have the wealth they need, they just don't actually have any time.

    Rhea Miller on Cloudhand, Clenched Fist

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 18, 2025 34:59


    To go back 30 years in one's writing is an exercise fraught with the possibility that the material is very dated, but this book, Cloudhand, Clenched Fist, by Rhea Miller, is a large exception.

    Interview with Paul Nelson on the Poetry Postcard Fest

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 1, 2025


    Sam Hamill said “Over the past decade or so, no one has done more for poetry in the Pacific Northwest than has Paul Nelson.” With the Poetry Postcard Fest, now in its 19th year, that influence is spreading well beyond the Cascadia bioregion and all over the world. 

    Anne Tardos on Cascadian Prophets

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 12, 2025


    I am grateful today to bring you an interview with Anne Tardos on Cascadian Prophets, reading from and speaking about her newest book: The Always Already Absent Present. 

    An interview with Jewell James

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 28, 2025


    An interview with Jewell James, Master Carver and Director of the Sovereignty and Treaty Protection Office with the Lummi Nation

    Andrew Schelling on Forests, Temples, Glacial Rivers

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 1, 2025


    Sanskrit translations, a deep bioregional sense of place and homages to dead (mostly) poet friends makes Andrew Schelling's new book a compelling distillation of subjects he's been tracking for over 40 years. Author of “Tracks Along The Left Coast: Jaime D'Angulo & Pacific Coast Culture” and “From the Arapaho Songbook” and many other titles, he lives in the mountains outside of Boulder, Colorado, and teaches poetry and Sanskrit at Naropa University. The new book is Forests, Temples and Glacial Rivers, published by Empty Bowl.

    Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun Lets'lo:tseltun on Unceded Territories

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 31, 2025


    This interview with Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun Lets'lo:tseltun was originally recorded in August of 2016, just before the first election of the 45th president of the United States of America. The conversation took place in the midst of Yuxwelptun Lets'lo:tseltun's exhibition Unceded Territories, at the Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia.

    George Draffan on the Global Assault on Forests

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 4, 2025 22:47


    George Draffan is a researcher, the head of the Public Information Network and the co-author of Strangely Like War: The Global Assault on Forests. He discussed the tax subsidies to corporations who deforest the world, the history of how industrial logging has exacerbated forest fires, and how deforestation is proof Western culture values the rights of corporations over humans, as well as global corporate deforestation, the disproportionate percentage of the world's tree products the U.S.A. uses, how most of those products are for unwanted packaging and tissues. And some solutions, such as restoration ecology.

    Interview with Harold Rhenisch on The Salmon Shanties: A Cascadian Song Cycle

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 15, 2024 51:27


    Harold Rhenisch interviewed by Paul E Nelson about The Salmon Shanties: A Cascadian Song Cycle.

    Wanda Coleman on American Sonnets

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 23, 2024


      Wanda Coleman Super Bowl of Poetry bookmark. (Held at the Auburn  SPLAB.)Wanda Coleman, born in Los Angeles, was an award-winning poet, author, and former scriptwriter. She wrote more than 20 books across forms, from her first poetry chapbook Art in the Court of the Blue Fag, published by Black Sparrow Press in 1977, to Heavy Daughter Blues, also published by Black Sparrow in 1987. This month, Cascadian Prophets is bringing back this February 2002 interview with the artist. In it, she discusses the African-American literary avant garde, why such a movement is helpful, and how literature in the U.S.A. has suffered because African-American writers are still "too busy, advocating for our status as human beings in this country.” She also touches on how universities in the U.S.A. have a corporate mindset, and much more, before reading American Sonnets from her book Mercurochrome, Black Sparrow Press 2001. She lived until 2013. Her assessment that "...when it comes to social programs, there's this complacency. There's this huge apathy. Look what happened after the bombing in Oklahoma City, of the Federal Building. what happened after Columbine. This amnesia that seems to fall like a curtain after very significant events. There's a criminalization process taking place of women and youth in this country." continues to be a perceptive and foretelling analysis. The original interview with Wanda Coleman can be found here.

    Interview with Jane Falk and Mary Paniccia Carden on the book Joanne Kyger: A Poet in Place and Time

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 31, 2024 33:15


    Jane Falk and Mary Paniccia Carden are co-editors of the anthology Joanne Kyger: A Poet in Place and Time, a new book of essays examining the work of the longtime Bolinas, California resident poet. Conducted October 5, 2024.

    Dr. Rudy Rÿser on the Center for World Indigenous Studies

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 28, 2024


    An interview with Dr. Rudolph Rÿser, founder and board chair emeritus of the Center for World Indigenous Studies.

    Frank Abe on The Literature of Japanese-American Incarceration

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 1, 2024 45:40


    An interview with Frank Abe, co-editor of the new anthology The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration, conducted September 20, 2024 by Paul E Nelson

    Barry McKinnon Interview (from July 2015)

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 1, 2024


    Paul: You know, you moved up here and one of the first things you did as a teacher in Prince George - was it UNBC at the time when you moved here – the University of Northern British Columbia? Barry: No, it was the College of New Caledonia. Paul: And you were teaching English in a welding class? BM: Yup, it was a technical school. We moved into a technical school before they built the college. PN: And this is 1969? BM: Yeah, 1969. But in that first year here we taught out of the high school. We'd start teaching at three in the afternoon after the high school was out, so we were a night school. We were kind of interlopers. The high school teachers thought, “oh, here are these smarty pants academics coming in and taking over the functions that we've provided!”

    Jerome Rothenberg Interview from 2001

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 1, 2024 47:05


    Jerome Rothenberg was a legendary poet, translator and anthologist. His work on various poetry anthologies, including Poems for the Millennium were an inspiration for our Cascadian Zen series. He died on April 21, 2024 and we're presenting this archive audio of the interview conducted in November 2001 as our latest Cascadian Prophets podcast. R.I.P. Jerome! Our introduction from 2001.

    poems millennium jerome rothenberg
    Cecil Giscombe Interview

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 1, 2024 39:08


    Cecil Giscombe talks about his friendship with BC poet, the late Barry McKinnon, about how people in the US consider Canadian poets and about his own work in an interview conducted by Paul E Nelson June 23, 2024 in Prince George, BC.

    Robert Michael Pyle Interview

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 1, 2024


    Bob met me at the retro Atomic Motel and we talked for over an hour about his new book, the poems in it, his childhood, bioregionalism, his trip to Cuba, Vladimir Nabokov's notion via biographer Brian Boyd of "attending to the individuating detail" of one's life (an upgrade from the same notion I've gotten from Blake and Pound) and his general "thing" "close attention to the natural world." It's the June 2024 Cascadian Prophets podcast:

    Interview with Bill Porter on the Film “Dancing With the Dead”

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 15, 2024 25:47


    Paul E Nelson interviews Bill Porter on the film "Dancing With the Dead: Red Pine and the Art of Translation as it screens Sunday, April 21 at SIFF Cinema Egyptian.

    Nicholas Gulig Interview

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 28, 2024 48:14


    The Poet Laureate of Wisconsin Nicholas Gulig discussing the influence legendary poet Lorine Niedecker had on his work, recreating her trip around Lake Superior and discussing the poem's similarity with an altar.

    Tessa Hulls Interview Feeding Ghosts

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 28, 2024 42:26


    Paul E Nelson interviews Tessa Hulls on Feeding Ghosts her graphic memoir

    Roxi Power Interview

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 1, 2024 62:19


    Poet Roxi Power sings from her new book The Songs Objects Would Sing

    Robert Bringhurst Interview Part 3

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 3, 2024 26:15


    In the third and final part of an October 22, 2023 interview Robert Bringhurst, he talks about blister rust, how bioregionalism is an antidote to bad politics and other subjects connected to his 55 page poem The Ridge,

    robert bringhurst
    Robert Bringhurst The Ridge Interview Part 2

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 20, 2023 26:28


    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,

    Robert Bringhurst The Ridge (Interview) Pt. 1

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 5, 2023


    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.

    Lorna Dee Cervantes Interview (April on Olympia)

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 1, 2023 72:25


    Lorna Dee Cervantes Interview on April on Olympia

    John Tanner on Richard Brautigan

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 3, 2023 65:31


    John Tanner on Richard Brautigan and How To Make an America

    Stephen Thomas Interview Part 2

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 9, 2023


    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.

    Interview with Stephen Thomas, Part 1

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 31, 2023 46:00


    Stephen Thomas 7.1.2023Before moving to Europe, Auburn, Washington native Stephen Thomas was quite active in the Seattle literary scene. He came back to Seattle (& other parts of the U.S.) to read from his new book What Is Between Us published by Hand to Mouth Books of Walla Walla. We sat on the deck of the Casa del Colibrí in Rainier Beach and had our chat about his poetry influences, Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson, the Cabaret Hegel, the arts venue he created and about the new book. The recording of his July 1, 2023, reading at The Booktree in Kirkland can be heard here. My intro went like this: Stephen Thomas was born into a working class Catholic family in Auburn, Washington in 1950. At 12 a teacher played a recording of Emily Dickinson's poems and he says “his fate was sealed.” A pillar of the Seattle poetry scene of the 80s, 90s and 2000s, he founded the Cabaret Hegel in an abandoned factory and presented with many notable performers such as Steven Jesse Bernstein. Stephen Thomas has published work in Exquisite Corpse, Poetry Northwest, the Malahat review and other publications and he currently lives in Germany's Black Forest where he co-founded Gemeinschaft Sonnenwald, a sustainable agriculture community.

    Interview with Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 1, 2023 50:26


    guti muhs
    The Columbia River Confluence Project

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 6, 2023


    IPRA – Making Peace in Trinidad

    Play Episode Listen Later May 27, 2023 20:56


    Rescue and Revival of a Seattle Legend: Carletta Carrington Wilson Interprets James Washington Jr.

    Play Episode Listen Later May 1, 2023 39:30


    Carletta Carrington Wilson discusses Poem of Stone & Bone in honor of James W. Washington Jr.

    Heavy Lifting Art Book (Feilcia Rice, Theresa Whitehill)

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 31, 2023 42:39


    Richard Atleo at Seattle U

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 9, 2023 55:49


    Shuri Kido Interview on Names And Rivers

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 1, 2023 63:05


    Brenda Hillman Interview In A Few Minutes Before Later

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 1, 2023 60:30


    Brenda Hillman interviewed on her 2022 book In A Few Minutes Before Later by Paul E Nelson for the Cascadian Prophets podcast

    brenda hillman
    On Irma Pineda (Isthmus Zapotec) by Wendy Call (Translator)

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 16, 2022 49:51


    Mary Norbert Körte Interview Part 2

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 13, 2022 58:06


    Mary Norbert Körte Interview October 2019

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 6, 2022 45:01


    Interview part 1 from Oct 2019 with Mary Norbert Körte at her home in Irmulco, CA.

    Cascadian Zen Anthology

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 28, 2022 24:18


    Interview with Brainwashed Director Nina Menkes

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 8, 2022 34:12


    Cascadian Prophets interview. Why are only 8% of Hollywood movies produced by women, down from 9% 20 years ago? One Hollywood film-maker says the “male gaze” reinforced by a camera angle formula and a subject-object dynamic creates an industry rife with employment discrimination and sexual abuse and assault. That film-maker is Nina Menkes, the Producer and Director of Brainwashed: Sex Camera Power. The movie is showing now in select theaters and it is both disturbing and compelling, as well as uplifting.

    director hollywood brainwashed brainwashed sex camera power
    Pierre Joris on A Nomad Poetics

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 17, 2022 34:02


    Pierre Joris talks to Paul E Nelson on A Nomad Poetics and reads the poem Letter to Steichen, Ed

    Ricardo Ruiz (We Had Our Reasons)

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 1, 2022 39:04


    Fumiko Kimura’s Life & Art by David Berger

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 12, 2022 42:51


    Michael Daley Interview (Romance with the Unexpected)

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 8, 2022 51:08


    unexpected romance michael daley
    Interview with Claudia Castro Luna

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 17, 2022 62:30


    Interview with Claudia Castro Luna, recorded 17-JUNE-2022 via Zoom about her new book Cipota Under the Moon published by Tia Chucha Press.

    interview zoom moon tia chucha press claudia castro luna
    Cascadian Blogging (The Raven) Patrick Mazza Interview

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 8, 2022 42:13


    Patrick Mazza's blog, The Raven, exists: "To inform the people-power movements crucial to addressing the crises coming upon us at national and global levels, from increasing national divisions and breakdown of institutions, to the climate crisis."

    Pierre Joris Interview (Canto Diurno #1)

    Play Episode Listen Later May 4, 2022 49:11


    Interview with Pierre Joris recorded May 2, 2022 by Paul E Nelson for the Cascadian Prophets podcast.

    Hoa Nguyen Interview (A Thousand Times You Lose Your Treasure)

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 17, 2022 75:29


    John Brehm (The Dharma of Poetry) Interview

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 26, 2022 47:00


    Interview with John Brehm, author of The Dharma of Poetry. Recorded by Paul E Nelson for Cascadian Prophets podcast on February 24, 2022 in John's Portland, OR home.

    Barbara Johns on Kenjiro Nomura

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 25, 2022 54:16


    The paintings of Kenjiro Nomura are featured at the Cascadia Art Museum in Edmonds, Washington and a new book by art historian Barbara Johns, Kenjiro Nomura, American Modernist: An Issei Artist's Journey, is the topic of discussion.

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