Cascadia Poetics LAB
Poetry Postcard Fest
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I Want to Write a Poem (But Don’t Know How): A Cascadia 2050 workshop

On Saturday, June 27, from 3 – 5pm, Cascadia 2050 will be hosting a workshop titled: I Want to Write a Poem (But Don’t Know How). Cost: free, suggested donation $25. Sign up here.

Learn more here

 

Cascadia Poetics LAB Blog

Cascadia Poetics LAB Blog

Poetry Postcard Fest 2026 Banner

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

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/.

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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.