This will be the third 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 December 12, 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
I Want to Write a Poem (But Don’t Know How): A Cascadia 2050 workshop
This will be the third 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 December 12, 2026, 3-5:00 PM Pacific Time
Cost: free, suggested donation $25.
Poetry as Neuro-Resilience
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 9-11 AM 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
Postcard Reflections by Zach Charles
From PPF committee member Zach Charles: I recently had the privilege and honor to interview Paul E Nelson, Founder of the Cascadia Poetics Lab and...
CPF8 Cascadian Zen Vol. II Reading VIDEO
Cascadian Zen Vol. II at the 8th Cascadia Poetry Festival On November 2, 2024, we celebrated the publication of Cascadian Zen Vol. II by Watershed...
Give BIG to Cascadia Poetics Lab May 6-7!
Give Big to Cascadia Poetics Lab May 6-7! Celebrate Give Big 2025 by donating to Cascadia Poetics Lab! Cascadia Poetics Lab was established in 1993...
Postcards in Rainier Beach
Happy spring! We're gearing up for another exciting summer of postcard poetry, and have some great opportunities for connecting with postcard poets...
Thank You 4Culture
Cascadia Poetics LAB Expresses Appreciation to 4Culture for Doors Open Sustained Support Funding Grant “It’s a home run for culture in this...
Spring Thoughts
From PPF Committee member Ina Roy-Faderman: in the northern hemisphere, we’re getting more sunshine. while Tennyson (bless him)* described spring as...
Upcoming Winter in America (Again Events!
Join us for upcoming Winter in America (Again events in Cascadia and beyond! Inter Act Spoken Word Open Mic Inter Act Spoken Word Open Mic at Satori...
Launch Party for The Outside by Matt Trease
Launch Party for The Outside by Matt Trease, Hosted by the Theosophical Society Seattle Library Join us on April 12, 2025 at 5 P.M. PST at the...
Interview with Paul Nelson on the Poetry Postcard Fest
If you were to visit cascadiapoeticslab.org and click to the Poetry Postcard Fest page, you’d find the following blurb. “The Poetry Postcard Fest is...
Cascadia Poetics LAB Blog
Bob Pyle and Jim Dott in Seattle
Two Cascadian Zen poets from central Cascadia are in Seattle, Friday, March 20, 2026, at 6:30 at Arundel Books. You can listen to our 2024 interview...
Volunteers Need for Postcard Activations + CPL News
Dear CPL Fan. I trust you & yours are well in these chaotic times. When I read that Chinese astrology refers to The Year of the Fire Horse...
Watch A POET at SIFF Cinemas 3/6-3/9!
Watch A Poet, directed by Columbian director Simón Mesa Soto, THIS WEEKEND at SIFF Film Center in Seattle! We are grateful to have received a coupon...
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Poetry Postcard Fest 2026
Registration is closed
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)
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.