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.
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...
Rainier Beach Poetry Postcard Activations
To create greater awareness of the 20th year of the Poetry Postcard Fest AND greater awareness of parks in Seattle's Rainier Beach neighborhood AND...
Ian Boyden and Sam Hamill on Habitations
On November 10, 2012, Sam Hamill and Ian Boyden joined together to do an interview on Hamill's chapbook Border Songs, as well as Habitations, a...
CPL Featured Poet – Martha Clarkson
CPL Featured Poets To continue to extend our gratitude to the generosity of our community, Cascadia Poetics Lab is featuring the work of our...
Cascadia 2050 in Vancouver!
On Friday, January 31 and Friday, February 6, Cascadia 2050 members Zach Charles, Ankober Yewondwossen and myself (Veronica Martinez) drove to...
JOIN US for Postcard Activation Events!
FREE Postcard Activation Events in Seattle this Spring! JOIN US for a series of free outdoor postcard poetry gatherings in Seattle’s Rainier Beach...
The Poetics of Cascadian Land and Water VIDEOS!
The Poetics of Cascadian Land and Water Curriculum Available NOW! The Poetics of Cascadian Land and Water workshop facilitated by poet Harold...
Cascadia Poetics LAB Blog
Last 2026 Poetry Postcard Activation June 6 11a-1pm
Our last Poetry Postcard Activation of the year is set for Saturday, June 6, 2026, at Pritchard Beach. We'll have postcard collage supplies, a...
Every Death Hurts (Josh Massey on Barry McKinnon)
I met Barry McKinnon at a Gwillim Lake Writing Retreat near Tumbler Ridge in 2008. This is north of Prince George, maybe six hours west of Edmonton...
I Want to Write a Poem (But Don’t Know How): A Cascadia 2050 workshop
On Saturday, June 27, from 3 - 5pm, Cascadia 2050 will be hosting a workshop titled: I Want to Write a Poem (But Don't Know How). Cost: free,...
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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 Finn Menzies
This interview with Finn Menzies is an archival interview from November, 2017. Finn Menzies is an out transgender teacher in Seattle, WA. His work is his spiritual practice and his activism. He received his MFA from Mills College. He is the creator of FIN Zine, a bi-annual zine dedicated to his emotional journey throughout his transition.
Finn’s debut collection, BRILLIANT ODYSSEY DON’T YEARN came out in 2017 with FOG MACHINE. His poetry can also be seen in Gigantic Sequins, Quiet Lightning, SUSAN /the journal, , SPORK, HOLD: a journal, The Shallow Ends, Big Lucks, and various other journals. Annually, Finn facilitates UNdoing Ego: a workshop on meditation and generative writing practices.
To hear the original audio of this interview, click here.
Check out more of what the Lab does here, and listen to more current and archival podcasts on Spotify or on our website.
To get original poetry right in your mailbox this summer and build peaceful connections across the globe check out the Poetry Postcard Fest.
Podcast (prophets-podcast): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 32:08 — 44.1MB)
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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.