Mimi German

Mimi German, poet and advocate for the unhoused, splits her time between Portland, OR and the wilderness of the Steens Mt Range in the SE corner of the state. Her first book of poems, Beneath the Gravel Weight of Stars, are reflections on what life looks like on the streets of Portland.

Where Grasses Bend is German's second book of poetry published by EyePublishEwe. It is a meditation on loss, American Fascism, and transcendence all in the time of a contemporary plague.

Bio

Mimi German is an American poet and subversive artist dividing her time between living in the wilderness of Oregon’s Steens Mt. and the urban strife of Portland, OR. Her first book of poetry, Beneath the Gravel Weight of Stars, was released in 2022 weaving her experiences as an advocate for unhoused Portlanders through poetry. She was recently named Oregon’s Beat Poet Laureate (2023-2025) by the New Beat Poetry Foundation.

Born a wanderer, Mimi left Philadelphia for NY in ‘82 for college. It was in NYC during the Reagan Administration that her first of a few non-violent disobedient arrests occurred. During her college years, Mimi was an activist at the Seneca Women's Encampment for a Future of Peace and Justice, a women-only peace camp formed to protest the scheduled deployment of Cruise and Pershing II missiles before their suspected shipment from the Seneca Army Depot to Europe in the fall of 1983. She continued to stay at the encampment immediately after college. While at New College on Hofstra University’s campus, Mimi traveled to the UK in 1983 to support the protests against nuclear weapons being placed at RAF Greenham Common in Berkshire, England.

In 1987, Mimi moved to Israel where she joined the peace movement, Shalom Achshav (Peace Now), arriving just before the first Palestinian uprising. After returning to the US, Mimi split time between Cambridge, MA and Halifax, Nova Scotia eking together money through nude modeling and as a musician busking on the streets of Halifax and Cambridge.

In 1995, Mimi hit the road to head west to Oregon where she still resides. In 1997, Mimi was arrested again, this time on Shoshone land in Nevada with the late Chief Corbin Harney protesting a proposed uranium dumpsite.

In 2011 after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Mimi started an international group called RadCast which documented citizen radiation readings post-Fukushima, from around the globe. She was often asked to speak about the reality of radioactive toxicity around the globe on national and international talk shows. She was a frequent guest on Michael J. Ruppert’s show, The Lifeboat Hour, and had a special weekly spot for radiation readings on the Thom Hartman Program as well as daily radiation readings on KBOO radio news. She was also asked to discuss the truth about the radioactive fallout from Fukushima on Dennis Bernstein’s, Flashpoints Radio on KPFA and was a frequent guest on Nature Bats Last with Dr. Guy McPherson. After many years, after it had become evident that we, as a society, would never have the good sense to rid our planet of nuclear power, Mimi chose to act locally instead by doing direct support for unhoused people in Portland, OR. She is still doing that work today. From that work, Mimi wrote her first poetry book titled, Beneath the Gravel Weight of Stars.

As an advocate for unhoused people in Portland, Mimi has spent years regularly testifying or shutting down Portland City Council meetings in order to bring attention to the needs of the most disenfranchised group of people who were dying in droves on the streets from neglect, inclement weather, mental illness, and addiction.

In 2020, Mimi, along with her partner, purchased land in Southeastern Oregon in the foothills of Steens Mountain Wilderness and the Pueblo Mt Range. It was here that she completed her manuscript for Where Grasses Bend, Mimi’s second book of poetry that began at the start of the pandemic through 2023. These poems are about longing, loss, humanity, and the regeneration of love as it presents itself in the wilderness of Oregon. In the summer of 2021, Mimi and her partner adopted Claude, a blue heeler who is featured on the cover of Mimi’s new book.

It was also in her high desert home that she discovered Ursula Le Guin’s book, Out Here: Poems and Images from Steens Mountain Country, a book she keeps on display for visitors. Mimi had met Le Guin numerous times at the food co-op in which they were both members in Portland. Le Guin’s spirit lives on in these canyons as one of the many ghost voices whom you can hear in the songs of the star dance.

On June 17th, 2023, Mimi was a guest poet for the nationally renowned concert series, In A Landscape, in the Alvord Desert with the incredible piano virtuoso, Hunter Noack.

Mimi’s poetry has been published in the New Generation Beats Anthology 2022 and in the National Beat Poetry Foundation’s, Remembering Jack Kerouac On His 100th Birthday. Her poems have also been published in the UK in International Times (IT), Steel JackDaw Magazine, and in the US, Sublunary Review, The Hopper Magazine, The Mantle, Three Line Poetry (Vols. 51/52), New Verse News and was a finalist in The Poetry Box and The Hopper for best chapbook manuscript. Her poems can also be found in the testimony files of Portland City Council sessions between 2017-2020.

Where Grasses Bend is available from the publisher EyePublishEwe and independent bookstores nationally and internationally. ISBN: 979-8-9870259-4-9

Beneath the Gravel Weight of Stars is available from the publisher The Poetry Box and independent bookstores nationally and internationally. ISBN-10: 1956285008