For Immediate Release
Contact: Paul E. Nelson
SPLAB!
C. City, WA 98118
http://splabman.blogspot.com/

SPLAB! E-Fishwrapper

In this E-Fishwrapper, Bookfest Panel Is Seattle Hostile to Literary Innovation?, SPLAB REBORN!, Soma Body Work Opportunity, Eileen Myles, more Nico, Submit to Drunken Boat you lush, Doe Bay & Seattle Bookfest 11 days away.

1. On Sunday, October 25 at 1PM at Bookfest, please come to see the panel entitled: Is Seattle Hostile to Literary Innovation? Panelists include: Sam Hamill, Judith Roche, J.W. Marshall of Open Books, John Olson and Sarah Mangold. Your humble emcee is that wily Splabman himself, Paul Nelson. The panel goes for an hour and Sam reads afterwards and then will sell books at the SPLAB booth. Also, stop by the SPLAB poetry stage, for two full days of readings by published poets.

2. Speaking of SPLAB. It LIVES! It can’t be stopped! It’s a runaway train! It’s out of control! Perhaps Auburn was not the best place for it in the first place, you say. OK. OK. NOW we believe you. Thanks to a generous donation of space from the Columbia City Cinema at 4816 Rainier Av S, we’ll be resuming our writer’s critique circle, Living Room, Tuesday nights at 7P, starting OCTOBER 27. The 2nd floor lounge has plenty of thrift store couches just like the old spot at 14 S. Division in Slaughter.

At Living Room, come to read new work, come to read the work of someone else, or come just to be in the engaging company of other writers. Plans are underway to welcome Michael McClure back to town in March and conduct the (somewhat) Annual Allen Ginsberg Open Mic Marathon in April. A new website is in the works, so stay tuned to your irregular e-fishwrapper. http://www.splab.org.

3. From Sanna Lee Solem:

This Fall/Winter I'm in a bodywork training program studying SOMA Neuromuscular Integration (structural integration). It's a deep-tissue modality that is profoundly transformative. I am looking for one more model to take through all eleven sessions this Fall/Winter. If this piques your interest, please read below to learn more about SOMA…

SOMA utilizes a series of ten or eleven sessions, each progressively addressing specific areas of your body. This deep tissue technique is slow and steady and is supported by your breath and intention…Here is what you need to know: You would be signing up for 11 sessions… For more, email Sanna Lee at: sannaleesolem@yahoo.com. See also: www.somabodywork.org

4. Eileen Myles

Speaking of new websites, from Eileen, who was great at Elliott Bay last Saturday, reading from her new book of essays, The Importance of Being Iceland: Hi Everyone,

I have just renovated my website eileenmyles.com. If you want to know about any readings and events that's where it is. One thing of great interest on it is an index to the Iceland book so you can decide whether to buy it or not based on whether you are in it. Not until the second edition will this be part of the book, so what a deal!

Otherwise there's a lot. Info on "Hell" the opera I did with Michael Webster is growing. Music and photos are coming. Stuff on the Collection of Silence is also beginning. The program with everyone's poems on it will be up soon, but for now some pics and some writing about the making of...

5. From Nico V:

concrete poetry show / seattle

http://www.pilotbooksseattle.com/wordpress/?p=187

6. Drunken Boat: Call for Submissions
From Deborah Poe, who knows a thing or two about getting you out of a jam in Binghamton: Hello,

In August, I sent out news of joining international online journal of the arts, Drunken Boat as fiction editor. Drunken Boat is an online literary magazine dedicated to exposure of visual, literary, digital, and cross-media works by renowned and upcoming international artists. To read the current issue, you can visit www.drunkenboat.com.

For those of you who are writing fiction, I hope you will consider sending some of your work. Please also feel free to forward to colleagues, friends and students.

Submissions re-opened in all genres on September 21st. To submit work, follow the link to our online submission manager: www.drunkenboat.com/submissions/index.php

Thank you and best wishes,
Deborah

7. Workshop Doe Bay Thanksgiving Weekend. Your wily SPLABMAN has finagled a weekend at Doe Bay and they’re putting me to work. Workshop, Sunday, November 29 and a reading the following night, Monday the 30th as part of the Artsmith series there. Doe Bay is one of the most remarkable places in the world, with clothing-optional hot tubs, a sauna and a world-class café. Take the workshop and get a break on lodging. Me & Almondina are leaving the day after Thanksgiving just to soak in the atmosphere before going to work. I hope you’ll consider doing an overnight, or two day stay at Doe Bay. Why not make it a long weekend/ mini-vacation? And read at Monday’s open mic. Who knows, maybe they’ll want YOU to read as part of the series.

8. One more Bookfest note:
Columbia City, Seattle, 2009 Bookfest, Oct. 24-25
From: Raven Chronicles
Please stop by Raven Chronicles' table and say hello, if you can make it. And come to Raven's panel, "Writing On The Land" with Panelists: Thomas Hubbard, Paul Hunter (moderator), Goldie Caughlan, Anne Schwartz, Oct. 24th, 2-3 p.m.

Farming employs over a third of the world’s population, yet agricultural production today accounts for less than five percent of the gross world product. The work and its output have been devalued in the marketplace, with the lion’s share accruing not to growers, but to corporate processors, transporters, distributors and retailers, producers of hybrid seeds, fertilizers and pesticides, equipment and fuel. Rather than focusing on how we got to this point, let’s talk about where to go from here — strategies to take back the task of feeding ourselves. Where should we look for answers as individuals to questions of scale, sustainability, health, and security when it comes to issues of food?
And see Bookfest's website for information on directions, etc.
http://www.seattlebookfest.com/

Yes, SPLAB! is coming back, October 24 & 25th, with a booth & whole freakin’ poetry stage at Bookfest, in our new neighborhood, Columbia City. Then the following Tuesday, Living Room. We could use some volunteers for the Bookfest booth and would LOVE to see you at our Living Room kickoff on the 27th.
We still have openings for the McClure workshop, which will be happening in Mid-March. $100 for the workshop and a limit of 20. Michael turns 77 in a week, so if you want to get the story of Projective Verse right from the Rebel Lion’s mouth, hit me back with an email and save a spot. There will also be a lecture and reading that weekend.

& your next E-Fishwrapper may very well have news about the release of A Time Before Slaughter. Hey! Want off this email list? Just ask.

Ciao.

Yr Wily Splabman

For Immediate Release
Contact: Paul E. Nelson
SPLAB!
C. City, WA98118
http://splabman.blogspot.com/

SPLAB! E-Fishwrapper

In this E-Fishwrapper, Investigative Poetry class at Hugo House, Creole Celebration tomorrow (Sunday) in C City, Talon Books Fred Wah Party, Red Sky returns, Pacific Rim Review of Books, Kerouac Film, something new from Nico & Seattle Bookfest 4 weeks away.

From the Hugo House: On Saturday, October 17, (yep, only one afternoon this time) try Investigative Poetry with that wily Splabman, Paul Nelson. You’ll look at some postmodern examples of history in verse form, do some writing exercises, then spend a good hunk of the time working on a poem that includes history. http://www.hugohouseservices.org/home/Class/DisplayClass.aspx?CatalogID=12

Louisiana Creole Celebration @ Rainier Valley Cultural Center, Alaska & Rainier Av S, Sunday, September 27, 5 – 10pm
Presented by NW Zydeco Music and Dance Association

5:00pm - BAYOU BLAST playing French Creole and Zydeco tunes from the Bayou.
6:00pm - MARDI GRAS LINE/PARADE with beads music and more.
6:30pm - Free samples of outrageous gumbo from the KING CREOLE Restaurant and gumbo-making demonstration.
7:30pm - Sample Louisiana culture through face painting, Rub board playing, All about Accordions workshop, and Zydeco dancing downstairs.

Talonbooks Poetry Event: Fred Wah and Friends

The success of our (Talon Books) summer poetry event has inspired us to host an even bigger poetry event this month. The amazing line-up of poets features Fred Wah plus Daphne Marlatt, Colin Browne, Jeff Derksen, Roy Miki, and George Bowering, who will emcee the event.

Fred Wah and Friends
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Upstairs at the ANZA Club (3 West 8th Avenue, Vancouver)

www.talonbooks.com

Red Sky Poetry Theater Reunion

"Always Open Mic"
What: Performance
Start Time: Sunday, October 4 at 7:00pm
End Time: Sunday, October 4 at 10:00pm
Where: Hugo House
Featuring: Featuring select Jack Straw Writers Anna Balint, Priscilla Long, and Michael Magee.

The next of the Pacific Rim Review of Books is going to press and should be ready for printing by Thursday, October 1st. This issue will also be available in pdf format at http://www.prrb.ca soon afterwards.
Here are some of the contents of issue 12:

“‘The Holy Curse of Poetry: On Jack Gilbert”: The Dance Most of All by Jack Gilbert Reviewed by David Day

What Is Canadian Literature? By Mike Doyle

“Evolving the Organic: Duncan, Levertov, Olson”: The Letters of Robert Duncan and Denise Levertov. Robert Bertholf & Albert Gelpi, eds. Reviewed by Paul Nelson

“On the Road in the Middle Kingdom”: Zen Baggage by Bill Porter, Reviewed by Trevor Carolan

“Writing the ‘Life’ in Writing”: Choose: Selected Poems by Michael Rothenberg, Reviewed by Jordan Zinovich

The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood, Reviewed by Linda Rogers

“The Oosumich of Open Form: Writing as Vision Quest” By Paul Nelson

Unnecessary talking: the Montesano Stories by Mike O’Connor, Reviewed by Trevor Carolan

Hello from KEROUAC FILMS!

Here is an update regarding the distribution of One Fast Move Or I'm Gone:Kerouac's Big Sur.
As some of you may know already, we produced a feature-length documentary and a 12 cut soundtrack album about Jack Kerouac's novel "Big Sur". The documentary features notable people including Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Patti Smith, Tom Waits, Dar Williams, Aram Saroyan, Sam Shepard and 25 more. The song lyrics on the soundtrack album were written by Jay Farrar by using Kerouac's prose from the book. Performing with Jay on this album is Ben Gibbard.

We recently signed a distribution agreement with Atlantic Records to distribute both the film and album worldwide.

So now is your chance to see the film and listen to the music. The film will be shown theatrically in 40 cities in United States on October 20th which is also the release date of the film. The film will also premiere in Los Angeles and New York City on October 15th. There will be other screenings in various venues that we will be sure to let you know about.

The music album will also be released on October 20th and a 4 city concert tour will begin on October 23rd. http://www.kerouacfilms.com/

From Nico V:
notes on staring
...
http://wordforword.info/vol15/Vassilakis.htm

Seattle Bookfest: October 24 & 25
Remember the old Northwest Bookfestival on the waterfront? Seattle's Columbia City neighborhood is bringing it back October 24-25 at the Columbia City Event Center, a former school that's one block from the new Columbia City light rail station.
The resurrected fair will feature more than 70 local authors, including poets and writers of fiction, nonfiction, mystery, romance, fantasy, and children's books. In addition, the fair will showcase over 50 area bookstores, nonprofits, and small but influential publishers as exhibitors. http://www.seattlebookfest.com/authors.php

Sunday’s panel at 1PM on the poetry stage will be Is Seattle Hostile to Innovative Writing? Panelists include Sam Hamill, Judith Roche, J.W. Marshall, John Olson and Sarah Mangold. Emcee, your humble Splabman. By the way, the SPLAB! booth needs volunteers to pass out bookmarks and help spread the news about SPLAB!’s move from Auburn to C. City (finally!) Call 206.422.5002 if you can volunteer.

Yes, SPLAB! is coming back. Details are being ironed out, BUT, we’ll have Living Room – a writer’s critique circle every Tuesday night in downtown Columbia City and we’re working on a 2009/2010 schedule. If you want the details, call me. For all those smart asses who axe if I ever go backpacking after my LOST episode, well, yeah. I hiked to Appleton Pass & back and had three days, two nights in the beautiful Olympics with bell-shaped wild blueberries warmed by September afternoon sun. You should try it sometime. There will be some changes to this org coming soon. Meantime, Mer & I are in Seattle and would love to get caught up with you if you want the info on SPLAB!

Blessings.

Hey! Want off this email list? Just ask.

xoxo President Postcard.

For Immediate Release
Contact: Paul E. Nelson
Global Voices Radio/SPLAB!
Seattle, WA 98118-1802
http://splabman.blogspot.com/

Global Voices Radio / SPLAB! E-Fishwrapper

In this E-Fishwrapper, Mexico City Blues tomorrow (Sunday) at Hugo House w/ Band o Poets (not the John Burgess Society), Sam Hamill featured on an interesting Bookfest panel, A Time Before Slaughter inches closer and a reading/workshop at Doe Bay in November, another Hugo House class, Nico crucifies books in Georgetown, Glenn Beck gets the key to Mt. Vernon, Poetry in Fremont, Raven Chronicles workshop, new book from Tim McNulty, a fund for ailing Gabrielle Bouliane and plans are being made for a new SPLAB! in C City.

1) Mexico City Blues turns 50 this year. Michael McClure called the long Kerouac poem a masterpiece, “a religious poem startling in its majesty and comedy and gentleness and vision.” John Burgess has assembled a highly capable group of poets and musicians to read and perform the poem (almost all of it) at the Richard Hugo House tomorrow, Sunday, Sept 13 at 2P. It’s free. Bring your copy and read along. Or risk suffering from the plague of pigs, turtles, frogs, insects, nits, Mice, lice, lizards, rats, roan Racinghorses, poxy bucolic pigtics, horrible unnameable lice of vultures, Murderous attacking dog armies of Africa…

2) The Hugo House Fall Class Calendar is out here: http://hugohouseservices.org/home/Class/DisplayClass.aspx?CatalogID=12
and look at this FASCINATING one day course: Investigative Poetry
“News is the first draft of history.” Pity if it turns out to be Fox News, eh? Well, don’t let those fuckers get the last word, do it yourself with a template from Ed Sanders, Joanne Kyger or Allen Ginsberg. We’ll look at some postmodern examples of history in verse form, do some writing exercises to warm us up, then spend a good hunk of the time working on a poem that includes history. Bring a book you’ve read (biographies are good) a news story or a whole file of stories on a subject, along with an open mind.
Instructor: Paul Nelson
Meets: Saturday, October 17, 2009

3) Bookfest is Back!
Remember the old Northwest Book Festival on the waterfront? Seattle's Columbia City community is bringing it back. The event will be held October 24-25 at the Columbia City Event Center, at 3528 S. Ferdinand, a block off Rainier and a block from the Columbia City Light Rail Station. So far the response has been terrific with dozens of local writers and bookstores already committed, including POETS Judith Roche, John Marshall, John Olson and others. Sunday the 25th at 1P, Sam Hamill, Sarah Mangold and those poets already mentioned will participate in a panel: Is Seattle Hostile to Innovative Writing?
http://www.seattlebookfest.com/

4) Michael McClure is touring and interested in a Seattle date this Fall or next Spring. He’s interested in doing a reading/workshop and lecture. The workshop would have space for 20 at $100 and the lecture space for 30 at $30 each. Would you sign up? Co-sponsors and volunteers are needed, so call me or email back if you can help make this happen. 206.422.5002 pen (at) splab (dot) org

5) From Nico
First Salvo:
Books nailed to telephone poles in downtown Georgetown
The idea is to follow the deterioration and disintegration of these books
Started September 5th
Thanks for your time

6) Doe Bay Workshop and Reading
Doe Bay, that magical retreat/resort on Orcas Island continues its renewal by starting a Literary Series on Monday nights. Working with Artsmith, they’ve come up with a Monday night reading series featuring an Island poet with an out-of-towner and Open Mic. I’ll be doing it the Monday after Thanksgiving and likely facilitating a workshop on that Sunday, the 29th of November. http://www.orcasartsmith.org/ and http://www.DoeBay.com

7) From Don Kentop

The distinguished poets Richard Kenney, Sharon Cumberland and Erin Malone will be reading at the Fremont Public Library, on Saturday, September 26th at 2:00PM.

I hope you can join us.

Don Kentop

8) Gabrielle Bouliane has Cancer
Many folks connected to the Seattle Slam scene for a long time no doubt know Gabrielle Bouliane, a fine poet who documented slam via video footage. She’s in a Texas hospital with a rare form of Cancer. There is a Facebook group dedicated to helping her out:

Subject: Gabrielle PayPal Fund

So many of you have asked what you can do to show your love to Gabrielle from wherever you are. Here is your answer!

Phil West has set up a PayPal account for G. The current priority is a laptop replacement or repair, for, as Phil said, "her computer is currently almost literally being held together by duct tape and chicken wire."

All you need to do to donate to fund is go to http://www.facebook.com/l/;www.paypal.com, click the tab that says
Personal>>Send Money>>Send Money Online

Follow the directions, using gabriellefund@gmail.com as Gabrielle's email.

On behalf of everyone - many thanks in advance,

~ missy (dugan) ~

9) From Michael Daley:

Pleasure Boat Studio: A Literary Press is pleased to announce the publication of

Some Ducks:

A Cycle of Poems for My Daughter
By Tim McNulty

In "Some Ducks" poet and nature writer Tim McNulty gathers together poems written to his daughter, Caitlin, on the occasion of her 21st birthday. Beginning with "First Song," written the night of her birth, McNulty celebrates his daughter's early encounters with the
moon, bears, the ocean, ducks, and her first glimpse of mortality, "where all we know of love / and loss / spills past the words / we have to tell it."

Tender, insightful, always delightful, these lyric poems capture moments of epiphany between father and daughter. And in their celebration of the ordinary, they echo Czeslaw Milosz's observation, "Only the moment is eternal."

10) So they’re giving Glenn Beck, Fox News demagogue, the Key to Mt. Vernon. Young Democrats are chanting Change the Locks! I say we buy tickets for the event and throw shoes at him!

11) From Phoebe Bosche:

Los Norteños Flash Workshop #2: The Prose Poem
When: Saturday, October 10th, 2009, 1-3 pm.
Where: Raven Chronicles’ Office
909 N.E. 43rd St., #205
(Corner of 43rd St. and Roosevelt, 3-storied Green Building),
Seattle, WA 98105

Author Oliver de la Paz, Assistant Professor and Creative Writing Advisor in the Department of English at Western Washington University, will offer a two hour workshop on the prose poem.

The workshop will be $35 per person, with priority to members of Los Norteños. (Bring check or cash on the day of the workshop: Make checks out to RAVEN CHRONICLES.) We need a minimum of ten people for this to work, with a maximum of twelve.

OK, so SPLAB! Is in the early stages of getting our act together to relocate in Columbia City. I think we’ve nailed a fine venue for our weekly Writer’s Critique Circle, again to be called Living Room, and that will start in late October. Your fishwrapperer may have been taking most of the summer off from his e-fishwrapping duties, but with a new SPLAB!, you can be sure we’ll be more regular. (Cuz they are loaded with fiber!)

They say A Time Before Slaughter is coming out October 1 and they seem for real, those folks at Apprentice House press (http://www.ApprenticeHouse.com) so if you have a copy coming, get ready, there will CERTAINLY be a fishwrapper with that little chicken mcnugget.

And finally, if you want to do a postcard project next August, but be one of 31 serious poets who will commit to writing one every day, please let me know. There are a few of us unhappy with the way the August project has been going (so many SHITTY poems) and we’d like to limit it to 31 if there’s enough interest. Hasta mañana.

xoxo President Postcard.
Want off this email list? Just ask.

For Immediate Release
Contact: Paul E. Nelson
Global Voices Radio/SPLAB!
Ilalqo, WA98002
http://splabman.blogspot.com/

Global Voices Radio / SPLAB! E-Fishwrapper

In this E-Fishwrapper, an end to 17 years, 6 months and 2 days of Slaughter, signup for Hugo House Investigative Poetry class, Bookfest Returns, McClure in Seattle?, Jack Straw Writer’s Program applications now open, new book by Jeremy Gaulke, Lit Fuse returns, news on Linda Thompson, and the ramblings of a man who saw his daughter graduate high school and get ready for college.

1) My time in Slaughter has ended! Mixty motions in that, but grateful to be in such a culturally diverse neighborhood, Columbia City. Meredith and I have found a home at 43rd & Alaska and a housewarming party will happen this Fall. We’ll combine it with a release party (one of several) for A Time Before Slaughter. Details coming to a fishwrapper near you. By the way, my daughter Rebecca starts her study at Northwestern next month. Her major? Journalism. Is that fucking great, or what?!?

2) The Hugo House Fall Class Calendar is out here: <http://hugohouseservices.org/home/Class/DisplayClass.aspx?CatalogID=12

and look at this FASCINATING one day course: Investigative Poetry
“News is the first draft of history.” Pity if it turns out to be Fox News, eh? Well, don’t let those fuckers get the last word, do it yourself with a template from Ed Sanders, Joanne Kyger or Allen Ginsberg. We’ll look at some postmodern examples of history in verse form, do some writing exercises to warm us up, then spend a good hunk of the time working on a poem that includes history. Bring a book you’ve read (biographies are good) a news story or a whole file of stories on a subject, along with an open mind.
Instructor: Paul Nelson
Meets: Saturday, October 17, 2009 - Saturday, October 17, 2009
Sunday, 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Min: 5 Max: 15

3) Bookfest is Back!
Remember the old Northwest Book Festival on the waterfront? Seattle's Columbia City community is bringing it back. It's going to be very cool event with at least 50 authors in attendance and over 80 exhibitors. This is a grass roots effort with all the funding coming from participants. In order to get started we need you to sign up now.

The event will be held October 24-25 at the Columbia City Event Center, a charmingly converted historic school building at 3528 S. Ferdinand, a block off Rainier and a block from the Columbia City Light Rail Station. So far the response has been terrific with dozens of local writers and bookstores already committed, including POETS Judith Roche, John Marshall, John Olson and others.

Booths are the standard 10 foot by 10 foot space with an 8 foot table and two chairs. They cost $200 if paid by August 31 and $300 if paid by September 30. Don't delay. Send in your booth reservation and check now to:
Seattle Book Fest
4816 Rainier Ave. S.
Seattle, WA 98118

http://www.seattlebookfest.com/

4) Michael McClure is touring and interested in a Seattle date this Fall. He’s interested in doing a reading/workshop and lecture. The workshop would have space for 20 at $100 and the lecture space for 30 at $30 each. Would you sign up? Co-sponsors and volunteers are needed, so call me or email back if you can help make this happen. 253.735.MEAT pen (at) splab (dot) org

5) From Jack Straw:
There's lots of news in the Jack Straw Writers world: There are two great public reading events in September at University Book Store and Hedgebrook; the Jack Straw Literary Podcast is going strong with installments on Lana Hechtman Ayers, Anna Balint, and Priscilla Long; and Rachel Dilworth will be on KUOW Presents on Saturday! (Download an application for the 2010 Writer’s Program here: http://www.jackstraw.org)

6) From Charles Potts: What the Master Does Not Speak Of –
Poems and Drawings by Jeremy Gaulke. Available at www.thetemplebookstore.com - the Temple Inc. - $10.00. Few poets of any age focus on their subject matter as intently as Jeremy Gaulke. Subject matter as fuel that is consumed in the propulsion phase of the art leaves little residue. So it is with the poems in What the Master Does Not Speak Of, the long awaited author’s second book, and only by the widest stretch, a sequel to his earlier acclaimed The Ghost of Harrison Sheets. What is consistent in the development of his art is Gaulke’s eschewing any need to rehash material already developed, rendered, and passed beyond. In one way it resembles jazz beyond the noodle, when the musician/poet hits the incipient stride inherent in the improv and creates a passage or passages unrepeatable. Little need to copyright this; no one could repeat it anyway.

7) Lit Fuse Returns (from Michael Schein)
Dear Poet,

Please join us for a weekend of poetry & inspiration!

LiTFUSE combines writing, improvisation, meditation, camaraderie, natural beauty & readings to ignite your muse.

2009 Amazing Faculty:
George Bowering Canada’s Poet Laureate emeritus
Carolyne Wright American Book Award winner
Judith Roche American Book Award winner
Charles Potts Washington Poets Ass’n Lifetime Achievement Award
Tara Hardy Seattle Grand Slam Champ
Mike Hickey Seattle Poet Populist
AK Mimi Allin Poetess of Green Lake
Leonard Orr TS Eliot & Blue Lynx Prizes Finalist
Carol Trenga movement & meditation for the creative spirit
Swil Kanim musical muse
September 25-27 * Tieton, WA

$120 early registration (includes Saturday banquet) / $130 after Sept. 11
Friday Master Class with George Bowering, $50 ($75 if not registered for LiTFUSE weekend)
Registration and schedule at www.litfuse.us

8) News on Linda Thompson, from Jeffrey Side
I have just heard that Linda Thompson, singer-songwriter and former singing
partner to Richard Thompson, is having some difficulty funding her next album
due to various changes in the music industry, which some of us regret. She
has set up an appeal for funding at a site called The Hector Fund (a site which
is something of an innovation in these matters). Her page on the site can be
found here:

http://www.thehectorfund.com/about/linda-thompson/ Also see Jeffrey’s interesting blog at http://jeffrey-side.blogspot.com/

Not since June have I dished out a real Fishwrapper. Sheesh! Those postcards take a lot of energy if you do ‘em right. Plus, golf season has been pretty good this year, the weather, anyway, so that impinges, but who am I to complain? So, walking to Tutta Bella, the cool new ice cream place Full Tilt and an African goods store was never possible in Auburn, go figure. But now it’s necessary because my daughter has my car! (At least til she leaves for Evanston.) Meredith and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Link light rail system and if you haven’t tried it, whaddya waiting for?
The cats have successfully transitioned to the indoor/outdoor life and there is room for all my poetry books! YeeHaw!

On that item #4, can you help? Can you commit funds to make it happen? If so, It wold be a great way to kick off SPLAB! activities in this new neighborhood. We’re also looking for steering committee members and other volunteers. SPLAB! rises again.

Ciao,
xoxo President Postcard.
Want off this email list? Just ask.

This, from Poetry Postcard Listkeeper Lana:

Event: August Poetry Postcard Fest
"write and send an original poem postcard every day in August"
What: Festival
Host: Paul Nelson and Lana Ayers
Start Time: Monday, July 27 at 12:00am
End Time: Saturday, August 29 at 5:00am
Where: http://concretewolf.com/august

More details: http://poetrypostcards.blogspot.com/

A more detailed Fishwrapper coming before too long. Too busy enjoying summer and getting ready to move from Auburn to Columbia City.

Ciao,

Paolo



Paul E. Nelson

Global Voices Radio
SPLAB!
American Sentences
Organic Poetry
Poetry Postcard Blog

Ilalqo, WA 253.735.6328

For Immediate Release
Contact: Paul E. Nelson
Global Voices Radio/SPLAB!
Ilalqo, WA98002
http://splabman.blogspot.com/

Global Voices Radio / SPLAB! E-Fishwrapper

In this E-Fishwrapper, Fifteen years of Subtext, John Olson review, June at Open Books, Red Sky Reunion dates, Gary Snyder on KUOW, ICL rental space and the ramblings of a man about to see his daughter graduate high school.

1) Subtext is 15 this year and it is a remarkable accomplishment. It has become internationally known for its commitment for avant garde poetics and I have been blessed to see many remarkable readers there, including Barrett Watten, Anselm Hollo, Lissa Wolsak, Fred Wah, George Bowering and many more, as well as local poets Nico Vassilakis, Robert Mittenthal, C.E. Putnam, Daniel Comiskey, John and Roberta Olson, Willie Smith and many, many more. I last did a feature there about 9 years ago and have been attending the readings as often as I could make the 60 mile round trip drive since they were at the old Speakeasy Café before the fire.

So, tonight, with Kansas poet Jim McCrary, I return for a feature. I had been hoping the Slaughter book would be out, but will be reading poems from that and a couple of new poems from a current project. It’s at the Good Shepard Center at 4649 Sunnyside Ave. N in Wallingford, in the Chapel, a remarkable place for a performance and folks gather at 7:30.

http://subtextreadingseries.blogspot.com/

2) Speaking of one of those Subtext folks, one of the brightest and more creative poets in town is John Olson. See a review of a recent John Olson interview here:

http://stevenfama.blogspot.com/2009/05/john-olson-poetics.html

With this excerpt, comparing his poems: . . . to clouds. The philosopher Karl Popper once said, ‘life is not a clock, it is a cloud.’ Clocks are predictable: mechanical, orderly, and rational. Clouds are capricious. Their being is circumstantial. Clouds are the products of multiple events: temperature, humidity, wind direction, altitude. No two clouds will ever be alike. It is the same with experience. Experience is always interactive. The prose poem is obviously the best vehicle for simulating life and consciousness as they are experienced.

3) June events at Open Books:

Thursday, June 4, at 7:30 PM, CHRIS FORHAN reads from his just published collection, "Black Leapt In"; he is joined by ALESSANDRA LYNCH, whose most recent book is "A Terrible Cloud at Twilight."
http://www.openpoetrybooks.com/calendar/archives/000359.html

Tuesday, June 16, at 7:30 PM, JOSHUA BECKMAN reads from "Take It."
http://www.openpoetrybooks.com/calendar/archives/000363.html

Thursday, June 18, at 7:30 PM, VICTORIA CHANG joins us to read from
"Salvinia Molesta."
http://www.openpoetrybooks.com/calendar/archives/000360.html

Sunday afternoon, June 28, at 3 PM, we'll be hosting A READING FOR THE BIRDS. Judith Kitchen, Duane Niatum, Rick Barot, Christianne Balk, Pamela Gross, and Stan Sanvel Rubin read from the anthology "A Poets Guide to the Birds." We'll be making a donation of at least 10% of sales to the Seattle Audubon Society to honor the day.
http://www.openpoetrybooks.com/calendar/archives/000362.html

4) Red Sky Reunion series will continue Sunday, October 5 and into 2010, on Mondays, 7 - 10 pm: January 25th, February 22nd, March 22nd & April 19th.

5) Did you miss Gary Snyder on KUOW? I caught the last half, have downloaded the whole thing, but have not yet heard Gary READ A POEM! (Did he?) http://kuow.org/program.php?id=17633

6) ICL Rental Space

The Institute for Community Leadership seeks your assistance in passing the word along!

Planning a work gathering or special family event? The O’Dell Center now has rental facilities for weddings, family gatherings, business and spiritual retreats, workshops or classes. Facilities include meetings rooms, classrooms, kitchen, staging rooms, outdoor gazebos, meditation hut, walking paths, salmon bearing stream, welcoming totem, large meadow and Spiritwood Forest. Facilities uniquely feature the nature and diversity of the Pacific Northwest.

For more information, please see our website: http://www.odellcenter.org

7) Poets on Whidbey: Michael C. Ford & David Ossman
At the Rob Schouten Gallery
Saturday, June 13
7:00 PM, Free.

Michael C. Ford and David Ossman met in the late 1960s in Los Angeles, fellow poets in a city not then known as a community of writers and artists. In the forty years since, they have both received Grammy nominations (for Spoken Word) and Ford¹s Emergency Exits was honored with a 1998 Pulitzer nomination. Ossman has gone on to perform and broadcast his work in many venues, including "All Things Considered" on NPR.

Surprisingly, the two poets have never shared the same evening, until now. Their joint reading begins at 7:00 PM on Saturday, June 13 at the Rob Schouten Gallery at Greenbank Farm on Whidbey Island.

The Rob Schouten Gallery is located on Whidbey Island at Greenbank Farm at 765 Wonn Rd. C-103, Greenbank, WA. For more information call 222-3070 or email info@robschoutengallery.com

8) Pub Crawl in Burien?
I want to let everyone know about an event some friends of mine are organizing:

Summer Poetry Pub Crawl 2009 - Sat June 13th at 6:45 pm in Burien

Poets, Performance Artists, Friends and many others will bring poetry to the streets of Burien Washington as we eat and drink, read poetry and then drink some more!

Poets and friends will descend upon the Burien Neighborhood and visit up to 10 pubs in a 6 block vicinity. Dress up (like your favorite real or imagined poet…"look it's Emily Dickinson, Ann Sexton, T.S. Eliot, Dylan Thomas, Bill Shakespeare, Chuck Bukowski, the Unknown Poet!") and bring poems to recite to the crowd. A few guitar pickers and singers may join us as well.

We will bring POETRY to the PUB people of Burien on Saturday June 13th!!

[Details online at: http://www.meetup.com/seattlesingles/calendar/10512107/]

RR graduates in 11 days and can then demand my car FULL TIME! ARGH! As you know, she’ll be attending Northwestern in Evanston, IL to study Journalism and graduate in four years to resume her Starbucks career. NO! That’s a Joke, son. Perhaps the financial model of journalism will be sorted out and we won’t have as much INFOTAINMENT as now. Lawd have Mercy!
So. we’re preparing for that fiesta and a visit by Ma & Pop, which should be good entertainment for the first few hours.

Oh, check out my latest Hugo Class offering, four nights in July with lots of writing:
http://www.hugohouse.org/news/#107
and remember Write-O-Rama at HH this Saturday.
Ciao,
xoxo President Postcard.
Want off this email list? Just ask.

Late May Wrapper

For Immediate Release
Contact: Paul E. Nelson
Global Voices Radio/SPLAB!
Ilalqo, WA98002
http://splabman.blogspot.com/

Global Voices Radio / SPLAB! E-Fishwrapper

In this E-Fishwrapper, signup for Hugo House classes, Subtext next Wednesday, In Tahoma’s Shadow reading this Thursday, also Cheap Wine & Poetry, Write-O-Rama next Saturday, Andrew Schelling’s new book Old Tale Road and his Post-Coyote Poetics essay and Sonya Sotomayor!

1) Hugo House opened registration for its summer classes today! May I suggest:
Keeping Your Hand (Foot, Spleen) In It: Poetry Writing Exercises
Finding time to write in this chaotic era can be challenging, but by experiencing a variety of writing methods (postcards, American Sentences) we’ll have more possibilities of finding that one project that defines us as a person/poet. Charles Olson, Jose Kozer, Anne Waldman, Nathaniel Mackey, Pablo Neruda, Ed Sanders and Lorine Niedecker are among the poets whose work or methods we’ll examine or use as examples. Participants will leave the course with at least 10 new poems.
Instructor: Paul Nelson
Meets: Thursday, July 09, 2009 - Thursday, July 30, 2009
Thursday, 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Register: http://hugohouseservices.org/home/Class/DisplayClass.aspx?CatalogID=11

2) Subtext: Wednesday, June 3, 2009,
Jim McCrary & Paul Nelson @ 7:30 p.m.
http://subtextreadingseries.blogspot.com

You know the warm-up act, awaiting the publication of his first book o pomes. The headliner: “has lived in and around and off and on Lawrence, Kansas for 40 years. His book All That (the collected chapbooks) is recently available from Many Penny Press. Publications include limited editions of the following titles: Hotter than and now; Holbox; My Book and Being Frida Kahlo, and Mayaland.

McCrary studied under David Bromige at California State University-Sonoma. Four earlier books of poetry include: Coon Creek (Cottonwood Books, 1970), Edible Pets, (Tansy Books, 1987), West of Mass (Tansy Books, 1991). He is editor of Smelt Money, and has received a Phoenix Award.”

While Subtexting, note: Thursday May 28 - 7 pm
at Seattle Public Library (downtown)
C.E. Putnam & Daniel Comiskey
plus Peter Culley.

3) In Tahoma's Shadow: Poems from the City of Destiny
Thursday, May 28 7:00p to 9:00p
at Tacoma Public Library: Tacoma Public Library Main Branch, Olympic Room, Tacoma, WA
Thursday, May 28 @ 7 p.m.
Olympic Room, Main Library.
1102 Tacoma Avenue South
Published by Exquisite Disarray, this anthology features the work of approximately 75 poets - established and previously unpublished - from throughout Pierce County. The reading features poets included in the new anthology. featuring, Michael McGee, Jean Musser, Josie Turner, Connie Walle, Paul Nelson & others. The book is pretty cool.

4) Cheap Wine & Poetry
“Cheap Wine and Poetry” rings in summer with a bang Thursday, May 28, 7 p.m. at
Richard Hugo House with poets Larry Crist and Storme Webber, novelist
Stacey Levine and performer Ilvs Strauss. As always, the funky Charla
Grenz hosts, and the wine is a buck per glass. Open mic follows the
features, if the wine doesn’t end your night sooner.

Hope we’ll see you there.
The “Cheap Wine and Poetry” Crew

www.cheapwineandpoetry.com

5) Write-O-Rama:

Write-O-Rama is a full day of more than 40 one-hour workshops offered by HH creative writing teachers to anyone who wants to write. To sustain you as you write we supply you with free food and drink, two open mics and a wrap party following the last session. You will come away with new writing, make new friends, sample Hugo House classes and find fresh inspiration.

How does it work?
Write-O-Rama is a benefit for Hugo House. Participants must raise at least $45 through pledges. If 100 people raise $100 each, fireworks will ensue--let's be clear about that. Registration starts at 9:30 a.m. and the first workshops start at 10 a.m. The wrap party begins at 5 p.m., right after the last sessions of the day.

http://www.hugohouse.org/giving/writeorama

6) Andrew Schelling’s new book Old Tale Road is remarkable, a book whose end fills you with a bit of melancholy, who’s turns surprise you, whose inspirations are Buddhist, Native American and Bioregionalist thought and whose Haibun may be the best ever in American. See his excellent essay on Post-Coyote Poetics here:

http://jacketmagazine.com/36/schelling-seventies.shtml

and buy his new book here: http://www.amazon.com/Old-Tale-Road-Andrew-Schelling/dp/1929355475/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243366356&sr=1-10 or at Open Books. Really.

7) Kudos to 44 for nominating the perfect person to be Supreme Court Justice, Sonya Sotomayor. Let’s see the racist demons expose themselves with her nomination!

My days in Slaughter/Ilalqo are numbered as my daughter reminds me less than 20 to her graduation from Auburn High. Despite being a kid who takes off on Senior Skip Day, as I did 30 years ago on National Cut Day, her GPA is a little more than twice mine and is headed to Northwestern U in Evanston, IL to study Journalism. It shall be reinvented within her four years to something much more credible than the info-tainment it has been for the last 25.

So, our plans continue to point toward re-opening SPLAB! in Seattle and we’ll need volunteers and Board Members of the parent org Global Voices Radio. We are creating some exciting plans for that effort and would love your expert help.

Blessings.

Hey! Want off this email list? Just ask.

xoxo President Postcard.

P.S. the postcard website is still down for the time being, but if you want to participate, send me an email and I can send you the current perennial postcard addresses.