There is less than a week to sign up for the 11th Poetry Postcard Fest. We have 5 and a half complete groups so far. Last year we had seven complete groups and there are many who love to sneak in under the wire. The official call is here. The direct link to the signup is here.

Meantime, I got a package yesterday from Donna Dakota of Schenectady, NY:

I love the D-i-Y feel of this and it combines several other things about poetry I love:

1) Poetry Postcards.
2) An expanded comfort zone. Poetry is not brain surgery, people. Taking a risk on a poem being sent to a single individual is not going to kill anybody. Not sure if it is from a poem, or a country music song, but this seems applicable here:

Dance like no one is watching,
Live like you’ll never be hurt
Sing like no one is listening
Live like it’s heaven on earth.

3) Seriality. I’ve written about it many times and this post is a good place to start, but seriality and spontaneity are two methods that I’ve used to get deeper down my own throat as I engage in writing poetry and I think there is a lot to the notion that these two methods are excellent ways to make the poem an act of discovery and a high-energy-construct, in Charles Olson’s words.

Thank you Donna Dakota for participating and for your kind gift.

While you’re here, see some other postcard resources:

Linda Crosfield Lives for File Folders

Postcard Testimonial by Ina Roy-Faderman, the Chief Editor of 56 Days of August.

How Sending Postcards to Strangers Made Me a Better Designer by the David Sherwin

POSTCARD POEMS, YEAR TEN by Linda Crosfield

Writing or Re-Writing by Your Humble Narrator