Poetry at the Rainbow Café presents the works of Paul Nelson and Bill Yake on Monday, Oct. 2.
The program is from 7 to 9 p.m. at the café, 112 E. Main St.
Coffee and conversation follow readings. It is an open mic opportunity. The public is invited.
About the poets
Poet/interviewer Paul Nelson founded SPLAB (Seattle Poetics LAB) & Cascadia Poetry Festival, wrote “American Sentences” (2015), “A Time Before Slaughter” (2010, short-list Stranger Genius Award) and “Organic in Cascadia: A Sequence of Energies” (Lumme Editions, Brazil, 2013). His 2015 interview with José Kozer was published in 2016 (Ranchos Press) as “Tiovivo Tres Amigos.”
He has also interviewed Allen Ginsberg, Michael McClure, Joanne Kyger, Robin Blaser, Anne Waldman, Ed Sanders, Diane di Prima, Nate Mackey, George Bowering, Brenda Hillman and is engaged in a 20-year bioregional cultural investigation of Cascadia, including the festival, a MOOC (Innovative Cascadia Poetry), interviews with Cascadia poets indigenous elders and activists, and the anthology, “Make It True: Poetry From Cascadia.”
Nelson is co-editor of that anthology as well as 56 Days of August the poetry postcard anthology and writes an American Sentence daily.
Yake is an Olympia poet and scientist living on the verge of a small salmon stream – Green Cove Creek. For years he worked as an environmental scientist with the Washington State Department of Ecology tracking down toxic contaminants in fish, rivers, groundwater, sediments, and soils. Since retirement he has traveled – to Papua New Guinea, China, Sicily, France’s illustrated caves, Peru and – most recently – Mongolia.
His full-length collections include “This Old Riddle: Cormorants” and “Rain and Unfurl, Kite, and Veer” (both from Radiolarian Press). His poems have appeared widely in anthologies and publications serving the environmental and literary communities. These include Orion, Open Spaces, Rattle, Cascadia Review, and NPR’s Krulwich’s Wonders.
The Rainbow Cafe, Striped Water Poets, the NorthWest Renaissance, Auburn Arts Commission, City of Auburn, and King County 4Culture make the program possible.
