From PPF committee member Ina Roy-Faderman:
At the start of every autumn, I process my summer’s poetry postcard infusion.
This year’s Fest was really weird for me. I was living in a tiny apartment across the country from my home and my mail. The postcards I was sending out felt more like “messages in a bottle” than ever, because the postcards coming to me were waiting in a stack on my dining table, a continent away. (If you were one of the recipients of one of my Black Cat, the photo is of the cat in question, who I was really missing and who apparently spent the entire time wandering around the house trying to find me).
Coming home to that colorful collection of postcards reminded me of how much the Fest is a mutual endeavor – an interaction of creative people, that’s sometimes missing in my fall, winter, and spring. Definitely my fault – I’m live near San Francisco, where there are many opportunities to enjoy the creativity of so many writers, artists, dancers, etc, but I keep letting life get in the way. This summer was a good reminder that those interactions, that insight into other people’s minds and ideas, matters a lot to me. While the Fest itself will go into quiet-mode as we all process and hunker down for the upcoming winter, there are places to make that connection that you can take advantage of before next year’s Fest:
The Cascadia Poetry Festival is coming up on November 1-3. If you’re in or can make your way to Seattle, it’s a chance for you to connect with other poets and artists, and there are some fantastic workshops available.[link: https://cascadiapoeticslab.org/2024-cascadia-poetry-festival-8-seattle-workshops/]
Paul E. Nelson (Fest founder extraordinaire) runs events and poetry workshops that connect people to poetry and for opening up your writing process; keep an eye on his
website (https://paulenelson.com/) for upcoming events (I wrote this post too late for Paul’s current five week spontaneous-poetry workshops).
Tentatively, a Postcard Fest event has been scheduled on June 8, 2025 in Seattle with money from Arts in the Parks at Be’er Sheva.
Oh, and if you haven’t yet signed up for next year’s fest, I hope you’ll do so here and that I get to “see” you next summer: https://cascadiapoeticslab.org/ppf-2025-event-registration/
Ina
Alo-HA Ina et al…yes, this years fest did sort of have that “message in a bottle” feel…I knew that I signed up in sept 2023 & simply didn’t give it another thought…mid July when I still didn’t have my list I phoned my old friend Paul and his answer was no list because you didn’t sign up!!! so I signed up on the spot and instead of my usual 62 naes 2 lists I had one which was group 18…31 names…anyway…I received 18 cards from group 18 three unsigned, unpostmarked from Canada, plus three other unsigned but with “almost” legible postmarks and I could guess “assume” who they might be from…thus that “message in a bottle” feel…so I have only sent out 26 cards in the hopes that I “might” receive a few more which would narrow down the unsignees…during my PoPo Thyme I have sent out over 900 love-filled postcards…and have enjoyed “sitting” with each postcard…taking each card to our PO and having them hand canceled and sent with Love…all of the workers have their own way to “add the love”…I enjoy the fest and will continue to support Paul et al…Namaste StanleydelGozo