PPF 2025 poet Sue Diewert published a piece on the Poetry Postcard Fest in Sage-ing: The Journal of Creative Aging! You can read Sue’s piece and see her PPF 2025 postcards below. Thank you for your support and insight, Sue!

If you are interested in joining us for the 2026 Poetry Postcard Fest, CLICK HERE.

Exercise as a Prerequisite to Creativity by Sue Diewert

As a woman in my mid-sixties, I am remarkably familiar with all the adages about attempting to age gracefully. Motion is lotion, use it or lose it, get fit, don’t quit, and the list goes on! I often struggle to find the motivation to exercise, but I always feel more energized afterward and find it much easier to access my creative side. Regular exercise is key to spurring me on when I write, paint or collage. 

 

Recently, on the encouragement of a friend who is a published poet, I signed up for a Poetry Postcard Fest through the Cascadia Poetics Lab. The fest founder, Paul Nelson, began the event in 2007. He calls it an annual fifty-six day self-guided workshop in spontaneous composition and community building. On July 4th I received a list of 32 participants, myself included, and the idea is to write a new poem on a postcard, almost daily, and by August 31stto have sent a poem to everyone on the list. I too will begin receiving poetry postcards. 

 

Drafting a new poem each day is a big task, and I have found the pictures on the postcards to be one of my main inspirations. Many postcards I send are from our recent trip to Tahiti, which has helped me feel into the poems. I make a first attempt, then leave it for a while and return to reread it and make some adjustments. Often sleeping on it helps too. When I signed up, I asked my husband if he could help me with the project and, fortunately, he agreed. If I am stuck, I pass my draft over to him and see if he can offer a suggestion. Here is today’s poem on a postcard with a close-up of bright pink Tipanie flowers:

Beauty Full
Flowering year round
Delicate pink petals curling
Could be white, yellow or red
Veins of life exposed 

Tourists visit year round
Leis laid around their necks
Lush fragrant flowers
Leave a lingering sweet aroma

Medicinal properties used year round
Helping people live longer lives? Polynesians believe the flower symbolizes
Immortality
Year round and round and round…

 

As mentioned earlier, exercise is one of the ways I cultivate and express my creativity. I have been a skater since the age of three and have had the good fortune of performing in two professional ice shows, one based in North America and the other in Europe. Although the routines in the ice show were choreographed with defined steps and hand movements, per formers used the opportunity to express individuality through their choice of makeup, facial expressions and costume styling. 

 

In 1997 at the age of 38 I learned to play hockey. This brought a new on-ice challenge that has been such a gift as I age. In 2018, because of the persistent efforts of several female advocates, women’s hockey was officially added to the program of the 55+ B.C. Games. My teammates and I are deeply grateful for their efforts. To stay in shape and keep playing hockey I knew I had to play more than once a year in the 55+ Games. Enter the Comox Valley Oldtimers 70+ Men’s hockey group. They have graciously welcomed a handful of us older women to play with them, since our numbers are insufficient to create a league of our own. 

 

Creativity is an integral part of hockey. As the play develops, there is an intuitive sense of where the puck is likely to go. The puck carrier and their teammates know where to be without any verbal communication. As one of my mentors, Father David Bauer, used to say, “Master technique, but let the spirit prevail.” Playing hockey twice a week allows me to keep active in a fun and encouraging atmosphere. The men are great at helping us improve on the finer points of the game! Teasing and comaradery make the experience social as well as physical. 

 

In semi-retirement I have continued to work part-time as a child therapist. My main counselling modality is play and sandplay therapy. I find working with children is another way I maintain a connection to my creative and playful self. Children are spontaneous and uninhibited in their play, and they seem able to access something deep inside of themselves when they create a sandplay picture. Working with these creative young artists reminds me of the need to relinquish the fantasy of control. My own childhood home was filled with a great deal of tension and communication breakdowns. While there are times when I wish it were different, I realize now that my lived experience allows me to access emotions that might have remained unreachable without them. 

 

This past May I participated in an art and writing retreat called “Listen”, which took place in Ochre Pit Cove, Newfoundland and Labrador. My sister in-law and I took advantage of this unique opportunity as we knew the exceptional leaders from a similar retreat two years earlier. Retreats such as these offer a helpful way to cultivate fresh ideas, while providing a renewed sense of creativity and an affirmation that creative expression is essential for the soul. 

 

Our two leaders, Christina Wells (http://christinagwells.com) and Katrina Grabner (http://katrinagrabner.com) gently led us in open-ended, always optional activities that allowed us to explore our creative nature and write about it in ways that drew out our deeper selves. Writing activities included free as well as prompted writing exercises that tapped into child hood memories and sensory-rich experiences. Art endeavours offered the use of different mediums with guidelines but no rules. The focus was always on the impact of the activity on you and how it helped you learn more about yourself. 

 

One misty morning we gathered at the beach to do a group installation. Working silently, we co-created a spiral made up of found things, including natural items and human-caused waste. As we collected and placed our items, surrounded by the coastal sounds, sights and smells, it felt as if we were part of something luminous. The retreat was capped off by an incredible “poetry walk” experience at the home of artist Marlene Creates in Portugal Cove. We ventured through her property and stopped at various locations as she read a poem that was inspired by the site. Overall, it was an impactful time that tapped into our creative depths and unearthed a wealth of new possibilities. 

 

Recently I read Anne Lamott’s book, Bird by Bird, which outlines activities and ideas to help those who want to write. I enjoyed her humorous and honest stories about her own struggles to write, as well as the challenges writers face in maintaining perseverance and quieting the inner critic. Cultivating creativity requires commitment, patience, trust in the process, an openness to what emerges and maybe a hockey game before getting started! Whether it be my feet gliding across the ice, my hands smoothing out the sand, or picking up a paint brush or pen and making a mark on paper, all these activities deliver a sense of release and remind me of the universal benefits of consistent efforts at self-expression. Although many life experiences have underscored my small role as part of a greater whole, I have also experienced a genuine sense of connection to the mysterious something that extends far beyond my individual perspective. 

Postcard sent by Sue Diewert, PPF 2025

Postcard poem from Sue Diewert to Judy Kleinberg