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
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.
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.
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.
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 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
Joanna Thomas dear-so-and-so Postcard Exhibit
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AWP Off-Site Events
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Richard Atleo at Seattle U
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Shuri Kido Interview on Names And Rivers
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Participating Poets 2023
Andrew Schelling -An ecologist, naturalist, and explorer of wilderness areas, Schelling has travelled in North America, Europe, India, and the...
Brenda Hillman Interview In A Few Minutes Before Later
I had the honor of conducting another interview with Brenda Hillman on December 12, 2022. The subject was her new book In A Few Minutes Before...
On Irma Pineda (Isthmus Zapotec) by Wendy Call (Translator)
Our latest Cascadian Prophets podcast guest is Wendy Call. She is translator of Isthmus Zapotec poet Irma Pineda. The new book is In the Belly of...
Cascadia Poetics LAB Blog
Poetry Postcard Fest ’25 Wrap Up ZoomParty
Join us on Zoom on Saturday, September 6 for the Poetry Postcard Fest '25 Wrap Up ZoomParty. We will meet at 2 pm PST and chat for 2 hours about our...
Organic Poetry Exercise for Postcard Poets
Now that the 2025 Poetry Postcard Fest is finished, we still have some writing exercises for postcard poets to continue developing your poetic...
Register for Fall Workshops!
Cascadia Poetics Lab Fall 2025 Workshops We hope everyone had a rejuvenating and sunny summer! Fall is fast approaching, which means our fall 2025...
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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.
Barry McKinnon Interview (from July 2015)
Paul: You know, you moved up here and one of the first things you did as a teacher in Prince George – was it UNBC at the time when you moved here – the University of Northern British Columbia?
Barry: No, it was the College of New Caledonia.
Paul: And you were teaching English in a welding class?
BM: Yup, it was a technical school. We moved into a technical school before they built the college.
PN: And this is 1969?
BM: Yeah, 1969. But in that first year here we taught out of the high school. We’d start teaching at three in the afternoon after the high school was out, so we were a night school. We were kind of interlopers. The high school teachers thought, “oh, here are these smarty pants academics coming in and taking over the functions that we’ve provided!”
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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.