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I Want to Write a Poem (But Don’t Know How): A Cascadia 2050 workshop

On Saturday, June 27, from 3 – 5pm, Cascadia 2050 will be hosting a workshop titled: I Want to Write a Poem (But Don’t Know How). Cost: free, suggested donation $25. Sign up here.

Learn more here

 

Cascadia Poetics LAB Blog

Postcards from Chaos

Postcards from Chaos

There are three weeks before the 20th Poetry Postcard Fest begins. Cumberland, BC and Cortes Island postcarder Scott Lawrance sends an article from...

read more

Cascadia Poetics LAB Blog

Postcards from Chaos

Postcards from Chaos

There are three weeks before the 20th Poetry Postcard Fest begins. Cumberland, BC and Cortes Island postcarder Scott Lawrance sends an article from...

read more
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Poetry Postcard Fest 2026

Early Bird Registration

The Poetry Postcard Fest is an annual 56-day experiment in spontaneity and community building. This literarary event is a self-guided workshop in spontaneous composition where people sign up to send 31 original poems on postcards to folks on a participation list before the end of August. The fest was initiated in 2007 by poets Paul E. Nelson and Lana Ayers, and has grown to include poets participating worldwide. Registration opens annually on September 1.

Interview with Finn Menzies

Interview with Finn Menzies

This interview with Finn Menzies is an archival interview from November, 2017. Finn Menzies is an out transgender teacher in Seattle, WA. His work is his spiritual practice and his activism. He received his MFA from Mills College. He is the creator of FIN Zine, a bi-annual zine dedicated to his emotional journey throughout his transition.

Finn’s debut collection, BRILLIANT ODYSSEY DON’T YEARN came out in 2017 with FOG MACHINE. His poetry can also be seen in Gigantic Sequins, Quiet Lightning, SUSAN /the journal, , SPORK, HOLD: a journal, The Shallow Ends, Big Lucks, and various other journals. Annually, Finn facilitates UNdoing Ego: a workshop on meditation and generative writing practices.

To hear the original audio of this interview, click here.

Check out more of what the Lab does here, and listen to more current and archival podcasts on Spotify or on our website.

To get original poetry right in your mailbox this summer and build peaceful connections across the globe check out the Poetry Postcard Fest.

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We recognize that our home office is on the ancestral homeland of the Duwamish, Muckleshoot and other Coastal Salish tribes. Our dedication to bioregionalism is to co-exist on this land in the sacred manner as practiced by the traditional ways of these indigenous people.

 

Statement on Ahimsa by Board Member Jason Wirth

January 20, 2021

The (Poetry Postcard Fest) and the Cascadia Poetry Festival (are) connected… When you’re writing poetry… part of poetry is the craft… rules (to be understood) in a variety of contexts… (Craft is…) a necessary but not sufficient condition. You’re also… experiencing your mind, at a very deep level. And that mind as you experience it more deeply, is not in a vacuum… It’s now and here… rooted in the socio-economic and ecological conditions that make it possible. And participating in… the spiritual exercise of these postcards, is already entering into… a deep bioregional awakening and conversion. In a way we’re trying for something like a spiritual revolution, and that poetry is not just an interesting thing that you can do, if you like. It’s a fundamental exercise of being here in a less harmful way… it’s a deep ahimsa, a deep practice of non-harming and cultivation. And so, it’s all connected… And… our ambition is… trying to have a mind that would be capable, of being in this place in a better way… We’re going to live or die, by how we come down on these issues going forward.