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
Postcard Fest F.A.Q. + More Festimonials
Registration for the 2022 Poetry Postcard Fest Ends July 4!!! In 2015 we wrote a Poetry Postcard Fest FAQ which started like this: 1. Can I start...
More Amazing Festimonials!
When we asked for testimonials from Poetry Postcard Fest participants, we never expected to be inundated. Check this: Elizabeth Maxey: This will be...
The Fest Starts in 14 Days
The 16th Poetry Postcard Fest begins July 4. Those who have registered and have 32 in their group will get their lists that day and those who have...
Fest Registration Closes July 4!
The 16th Poetry Postcard Fest begins July 4 and registration will end on that day! REGISTER NOW and await your postcard mirth! What do people say...
The Fest Starts in 22 Days
Thanks to the folks who came to our Inside the Day Song workshop last Saturday. More news about that project will be forthcoming. Now is the time...
Cascadian Blogging (The Raven) Patrick Mazza Interview
We caught up with the Editor of the visionary blog on Cascadian issues, Patrick Mazza of The Raven, in early May 2022. We present our chat below in...
Earlybird Registration Ends June 4!
Hard to believe it is one month until the start of the 2022 Poetry Postcard Fest. Registration is OPEN NOW and earlybird registration ends June 4....
The Poetry Postcard Fest: Black Mountain Style
A year ago postcard poet Margaret Lee and I collaborated on an essay about the Poetry Postcard Fest and how it's origins are indebted to the Black...
Epic Post-Fest Prompt Workshop
Get your five page handout loaded with links, prompts and inspirations if you register for this one day workshop before June 10. Take a look inside...
Cascadia Poetics LAB Blog
Sharon Thesen “…off on an angle”
The 9th Cascadia Poetry Festival is happening October 10-12th, 2025 at the Rainier Beach Community Club. One of the featured poets is Sharon Thesen,...
PPF Poet Eleanor Keisman Publishes Novella
Poetry Postcard Fest poet Eleanor Keisman is publishing a climate fiction novella entitled New Animal through Broken Tribe Press. Congratulations...
Your Blues Ain’t Mine: Winter in America (Again Virtual Workshop
On August 9, 2025 from 12-2 PM MST, Winter in America (Again co-editors Paul E. Nelson, allia abdullah-matta, Katie Sarah Zale and Roxi Power will...
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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.
Interview with Bill Porter on the Film “Dancing With the Dead”
Paul E Nelson interviews Bill Porter on the film “Dancing With the Dead: Red Pine and the Art of Translation as it screens Sunday, April 21 at SIFF Cinema Egyptian.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:47 — 35.4MB)
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Podcast (prophets-podcast): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:47 — 35.4MB)
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.