Poetry Postcard Activations
Free Poetry & Community Events in Rainier Beach!
Postcarding & DaySinging 2026 Workshop
This session will be a presentation of how the postcard fest developed, how the daysong developed, how I prepare for the fest and how participants attending prepare for the fest, as well as how to prepare for a successful daysong. The similarities of the daysong to serial poetry could be discussed, as well as the effort to put one’s self into the open, which has benefits in one’s own life. Registration is open to all registered 2026 Poetry Postcard Fest participants for a suggested donation starting at $1, which is the lowest our CRM will allow! See: https://bit.ly/4uwpnLG
Postcarding & DaySinging
- Sunday, June 14, 3-5 PM PDT
- Open to 2026 Poetry Postcard registrants who make a contribution. https://bit.ly/4uwpnLG
Cascadia Poetics LAB Blog
CPF9 Highlights!
CPF9 Highlights! We had an amazing time at the 9th Cascadia Poetry Festival, Oct. 10-12, 2025! It was amazing to see so many new and familiar faces...
Linda Russo on the verdant
or or As the planet heats up many animal species are either headed north or going extinct. This makes the work of the poet as witness that much...
Sharon Thesen on Creative Writing and English Departments
In 2014, poet Sharon Thesen gave a talk at a Creative Writing Conference in Vancouver about the state of Creative Writing and English Departments....
CPF9 Friday Workshops!
CPF9 Friday Workshops The 9th Cascadia Poetry Festival is fast approaching! October 10-12, 2025, join us for a gathering and celebration of poetry...
A Salish Perspective on Wellness with Beaver Chief
Hear a Salish perspective on wellness with Beaver Chief. Fred Beaver Chief Jamison was a spiritual leader who brought out the traditional teachings...
Banned Books Panel at the Seattle Library
On October 19, 2025, 2-5 PM, Raven Chronicles Press will be hosting a panel on banned books at the Seattle Downtown Library (Level 4, Room 1). From...
PPF Blurb from Suzanne Beaumont
From PPF 2025 participant Suzanne Beaumont: I am not certain which was more delightful: creating a poem and penning it onto a fun postcard and...
PPF Zoom Afterparty Video!
PPF After Party Video! On Saturday, September 6, 2025, the Poetry Postcard Fest committee hosted a Zoom after party for the 2025 Poetry Postcard...
Call for CPF9 Volunteers!
We're looking for volunteers for the 9th Cascadia Poetry Festival, October 10-12! Volunteers will help run the registration table, make sure our...
Cascadia Poetics LAB Blog
The Poetics of Cascadian Land and Water VIDEOS!
The Poetics of Cascadian Land and Water Curriculum Available NOW! The Poetics of Cascadian Land and Water workshop facilitated by poet Harold...
Bill Barillas on Theodore Roethke
In this edition of Cascadian Prophets, we hear Bill Barillas on Theodore Roethke. Bill Barillas is the editor of A Field Guide to the Poetry of...
Support the Families of Tyjon Stewart and Traveiah Houfmuse
Support the Families of Tyjon Stewart and Traveiah Houfmuse In late January, 2026, Rainier Beach teens Tyjon Stewart and Traveiah Houfmuse were...
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.
Gary Copeland Lilley on Raven on the Moaners’ Bench
“The first pew in the old time Black church is the Moaners’ bench.” – Gary Copeland Lilley
Artificial intelligence and it’s racist assumptions suggests “mourners’ bench” as a clarification, but the moaners’ bench refers to the audible expression of those in spiritual need due to grief, the blues, or simply the harshness of our time.
Raven On The Moaners’ Bench is the title of the latest collection of poetry from Gary Copeland Lilley. Originally from North Carolina, now living in Cascadia, Gary has published nine books of poetry, has work in several anthologies, is a graduate of the Warren Wilson College Creative Writing MFA program, is a Cave Canem Fellow and serves as Artistic Director of the Port Townsend Writers Conference.
Check out more of what the Lab does at https://cascadiapoeticslab.org/, and listen to more current and archival podcasts at https://cascadiapoeticslab.org/cascadian-prophets-podcast-2/.
Podcast (prophets-podcast): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 57:17 — 78.7MB)
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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.