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
Interview with Bill Porter on the Film “Dancing With the Dead”
Here (below) is the audio version of my March 25, 2024 interview with Bill Porter on "Dancing With the Dead: Red Pine and the Art of Translation."...
An April Postcard from PPF board member J.I. Kleinberg
From PPF board member JI Kleinberg: If it’s April, it’s National Poetry Month, and that has me thinking about the upcoming Poetry Postcard Fest...
Nicholas Gulig Interview
Imagine growing up a poet in a state like Wisconsin and having to travel to Colorado to learn about the work of Lorine Niedecker, and furthermore to...
Cascadian Zen at Village Books April 21, 2024
We hope to see you at Village Books in Bellingham for a reading of Cascadian Zen. Sunday, April 21, 2024 from 2-4pm.
Deluxe Edition of Cascadian Zen Volume I
The first printing of Cascadian Zen Volume I: Bioregional Writings on Cascadia Here and Now has sold out and a deluxe edition is available. Proceeds...
Zach Charles Poetry Postcard Fest Video
Poetry Postcard Video by Zach Charles Poetry Postcard Fest board member Zach Charles made a video discussing why he loves PPF and reading a Postcard...
CPL at Mapes Creek (dxʷwuqʷəb)
The Cascadia Poetics Lab is thrilled to be working with a community group here in Rainier Beach that seeks to create greater awareness of e creek...
Obituary for Postcard Poet Marit Saltrønes
Obituary for Postcard Poet Marit Saltrønes: Marit Saltrønes (Chris Ness)April 25, 1954 - January 2, 2024 Late in the evening of January 2, Marit...
This Damned Time Change (By Ina)
From PPF Board Member Ina Roy-Faderman: Oh, I hate this time change, harbinger of longer days. For me, summer is rough. I thrive in the cool and the...
Cascadia Poetics LAB Blog
World Meditation Day 2025 Dec. 21
Celebrate World Meditation Day on December 21, 2025! From the Art of Living Foundation: On the Longest Night, Find the Light Within The winter...
Register for Winter 2026 Workshops!
CPL Winter 2026 Workshops! Keep your poetic light shining bright during the dark winter days with Cascadia Poetics Lab workshops! We're excited to...
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...
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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.
Sam O’Hana on How to Support Working Class Poets
When I said that what’s good for general society is also good for poets, I’m talking about a series of cultural opportunities where a much wider stretch of people are allowed to take the opportunity to become writers. I came back from a conference last week where I presented some research on the demographic aspects of the New American poets. The poets that were born and came to maturity in the early to mid-20th century were beneficiaries of broad national scale longevity gains. This [includes] things like pushbacks against tuberculosis, against polio, against poor nutrition and infant mortality. These are gains that were made by the medical and scientific institutions, but also by general prosperity, by making more food available to more people and making that food shelf stable for longer. So, when you talk about what might make it possible for poor people to do more creative work, you could start by saying well we should just give people more money, but the fact of the matter is that plenty of people already have the wealth they need, they just don’t actually have any time.
Podcast (prophets-podcast): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 59:28 — 81.7MB)
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.