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
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.
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
Cascadia Poetry Festival 8 Friday Night Featured Poets!
CPF8 Friday Night Featured Poets! The 8th Cascadia Poetry Festival is coming soon, on Nov. 1-3! We are so excited to celebrate poetry in Cascadia...
A PPF Fall Letter from Ina
From PPF committee member Ina Roy-Faderman: At the start of every autumn, I process my summer’s poetry postcard infusion. This year’s Fest was...
CPL Youth Committee Event Oct. 18!
CPL's Youth Committee to Host first Poetry event on October 18! The Cascadia Poetics Lab is happy to announce the creation of the Youth Committee, a...
Frank Abe on The Literature of Japanese-American Incarceration
“A few months after the entry of the United States into World War II, the Government of the United States without a shred of evidence of misconduct...
Share your PPF poems!
Share your PPF postcard poems! Thank you so much for another incredible, record-breaking Poetry Postcard Fest! We'd like to give you the opportunity...
Sherri Olson’s Postcard Books
How Sherri Olson organizes her postcards From PPF participant Sherri Olson: Nan’s cute binder made me think I should share my solution. Years ago at...
Register for Fall 2024 Workshops!
Register for Fall 2024 Workshops! Registration for Cascadia Poetics Lab Fall 2024 workshops is OPEN NOW! This fall, we welcome Matt Trease, poet...
CPF8 to be hosted at the Richard Hugo House
CPF8 at the Richard Hugo House! This year, we are excited to be working with fellow Seattle literary arts organization The Richard Hugo House to...
Register NOW for the 8th Cascadia Poetry Festival!
Register now for Cascadia Poetry Festival 8! The 8th Cascadia Poetry Festival will be held November 1-3, 2024 at the Richard Hugo House, Spring...
Cascadia Poetics LAB Blog
The Creative Weapon of Love
Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, everybody. I am writing to you today from an intersection of many identities, several of which I think bear...
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!...
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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.
Stephan Torre in Atlin, B.C.
What a great way to entice someone to read a book: “Like a prize-fighter boxing over his weight, Stephan Torre has long made his home in the wilderness, negotiating environments that are hostile…
Podcast (prophets-podcast): Play in new window | Download ()
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.





































