From PPF Committee Member Margaret Lee: 

Last year, my theme for the Fest was Postcards from Where I Have Never Been. I was tired of reality and ready for fiction. My 31 cards named unfamiliar or imagined places. Did I connect the picture on the front to the poem on the back? Not usually. It was my summer for travel dreams.

I like marking time with postcards each summer, when the blistering sun blurs the boundaries between days. My cards distinguish each day from the next and enclose my poems within their edges. I study each recipient’s name and address. I often type the address into Google Maps to see exactly where they live. I try to imagine the weather there, the setting: woodsy, urban, lakeside, rocks, sandy beach? I wonder what else will come with their mail on the day they receive my card.

But what to write? Isn’t it hard to create a new poem every day? The answer is no. You already think like a poet, write like a poet. The words that come to you will always be right. They might land on your postcards in ways you didn’t expect! Each poem is a making: you make it, and it remakes you.

The point is, anything goes. If you want to get fancy, go for it! But the only rules for the Fest are spelled out in its name: Poetry Postcard Fest. Did you write a poem? Send a postcard? Are you celebrating? Then you’re doing it right! I hope you’re on my list!