Cascadia Poetry Festival 10
The 10th Cascadia Poetry Festival is set for October 9-11, 2026, at the Rainier Beach Community Club and other local venues. CPF is a gathering of poets and bioregionalists, exploring poetry and its connection to environmental, political, historical, and sociological pursuits within the Cascadia bioregion as defined by David McCloskey. The festival aims to consider how prioritizing natural and cultural boundaries, rather than arbitrary political ones, can address climate change and other issues. Cascadia Poetics LAB Founders Circle Members will be given the first opportunity to purchase an all-access Gold Pass.
This will be the second workshop aiming to demystify the process of writing poetry, and, as the CPL and Cascadia 2050 missions say, “empower people to practice poetry…”
Click this link for more information about the workshop I Want to Write a Poem (But Don’t Know How)
Saturday September 26, 2026, 3-5:00 PM Pacific Time
Cost: free, suggested donation $25.
I Want to Write a Poem (But Don’t Know How): A Cascadia 2050 workshop
This will be the second workshop aiming to demystify the process of writing poetry, and, as the CPL and Cascadia 2050 missions say, “empower people to practice poetry…”
Click this link for more information about the workshop I Want to Write a Poem (But Don’t Know How)
Saturday September 26, 2026, 3-5:00 PM Pacific Time
Cost: free, suggested donation $25.
A 5-week online poetry workshop designed for folks with any/no level of experience with poetry and with an interest in non-religious spirituality and the occult.
Click this link for more information about the workshop: Poet As Radio: Writing From Intuition
Sundays 3-5:00 PM Pacific Time
October 15 – November 15, 2026
Cost: suggested donation $125.
Poet as Radio: Writing from Intuition
A 5-week online poetry workshop designed for folks with any/no level of experience with poetry and with an interest in non-religious spirituality and the occult.
Click this link for more information about the workshop: Poet As Radio: Writing From Intuition
Sundays 3-5:00 PM Pacific Time
October 15 – November 15, 2026
Cost: suggested donation $125.
Explore practices that help keep consciousness attuned to the realities of the world – and discover how poetry can emerge from that depth. In this five-week workshop, Paul E. Nelson guides participants through readings, interviews, journaling, and writing exercise rooted in the Cascadia bioregion. All levels are welcome; openness and a commitment to the practice are all that’s required.
Learn more about Poetry as Neuro-Resilience →
Suggested donation: $130–$275
Saturday Cohort
Saturdays 3-5 PM Pacific Time
November 21, 2026 – December 19, 2026
Sunday Cohort
Sundays 3-5 PM Pacific Time
November 22, 2026 – December 20, 2026
Cascadia Poetics LAB Blog
CPF8 Issei Zen Panel Video
We opened our second day of the 8th Cascadia Poetry Festival on Saturday, November 2, 2024 with a panel entitled "Issei Zen & Other Migrations."...
Support the Poetry Postcard Fest!
The season for postcards is approaching, and Cascadia Poetics Lab needs your support for another year of postcards and poetry! The Poetry Postcard...
Readings from Winter in America (Again at Seattle U
On Tuesday, 4 February 2025, I was honored to take part in the first public reading of Winter in America (Again. This anthology, published by...
Help Katie Sarah Zale Write Sam Hamill’s Biography
Katie Sarah Zale, writer, co-editor of Winter in America (Again and facilitator of the CPL workshop Sam Hamill's Narrow Road to the Interior, is...
Postcard Poet Maureen Kane Publishes Poetry Collection
Mycelium: Poetry of Connection published by postcard poet Maureen Kane Postcard poet Maureen Sandra Kane has published a new poetry collection,...
Winter in America (Again Audio from Seattle Feb 5, 2025
Winter in America (Again: Poets Respond to 2024 Election was launched last night in Seattle University's Sinegal 110. Co-sponsored by the Seattle U...
Andrew Schelling on Forests, Temples, Glacial Rivers
It is said of the poetry of Andrew Schelling that he is “locating language in watersheds and continental ridges, in rocks and plants. A poet of...
Winter in America (Again Reading at Seattle University
Join us in marking the publication of Winter in America (Again: Poets Respond to 2024 with a reading from some of the contributing poets and...
CPF8 Friday Night Readings UPDATED AUDIO
CPF8 Friday Night Readings On Friday, November 1, 2024, we closed the first night of the 8th Cascadia Poetry Festival with readings by Daphne...
Cascadia Poetics LAB Blog
CPL’s 2026 Board Retreat!
January 2 & 3, 2026, Cascadia Poetics Lab hosted a retreat for the CPL board and key volunteers at the home of board member Dr. Gabriella...
What are you of? Poetry Exercise
What Are You Of? We want to share exercises for you to continue to practice poetry in mythic ways outside of workshops and the Poetry Postcard Fest!...
A Tribute to Renee Nicole Good by Cornelius Eady
In wake of the death of Renee Nicole Good, the 37-year old poet, wife and mother shot and killed by ICE in Minneapolis last week, poet Cornelius...
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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.
Vodou Visions with Sallie Ann Glassman
In this interview on her book Vodou Visions with Sallie Ann Glassman, she discusses becoming a Manbo, or Vodou Priestess, Vodou, its history as a religion created by enslaved Africans, common misunderstandings about it…
Podcast (prophets-podcast): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 43:41 — 60.0MB)
In Honor of David McCloskey “The Father of Cascadia”
David McCloskey passed away on July 3. In honor of his lifetime of work to create and spread a culture that was deeply connected to the Cascadian bioregion, Cascadian Prophets, which owes more than just its name to his work, we want to share this interview from October, 2013. Find it transcribed on our website.
Listen to more current and archival podcasts on Spotify or on our website.
In Honor of David McCloskey "The Father of Cascadia"
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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.






































