Life as Rehearsal for the Poem and Poetics as Cosmology 2026 Workshops
A five week online (Zoom) workshop best suited for continuing participants and more experienced poets (open to open form) in workshops facilitated by Cascadia Poetics Lab and Poetry Postcard Fest Co-Founder Paul E Nelson. Participate in reading and discussion of foundational essays, interviews, listening and other assignments, as well as spontaneous poetry composition exercises. In Winter 2026, we’ll explore a short history of Cascadian poetry, touching on:
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- Theodore Roethke
- Fred Wah
- Daphne Marlatt
- George Bowering
- Mary Norbert Kõrte
- John Olson
- Phyllis Webb
- Stephen Collis
- Sharon Thesen
- Barry McKinnon
- Cedar Sigo
- George Stanley
- Robin Blaser
Life as Rehearsal for the Poem (LARFP)
- Sundays 3-5 PM PDT
- March 29, April 5, 12, 19, and 26, 2026
Poetics as Cosmology (PAC)
- Thursdays 3-5 PM PDT
- March 26, April 2, 9, 16, and 23, 2026
Cascadia Poetics LAB Blog
CPF9 Friday Night Keynote Reading VIDEO
CPF9 Keynote Reading Video! On October 10, 2025 following concurrent breakout workshops, we started the 9th Cascadia Poetry Festival with a keynote...
An Implicate World, Unfolding…
An Implicate World, Unfolding...by David McCloskey A 2017 philosophical-poetic meditation by David McCloskey, creator of the Cascadia map. To learn...
Postcards from Elya Braden
Postcards from PPF 2025 Poet Elya Braden! Below are gorgeous postcards and poems created by 2025 PPF poet Elya Braden. Thank you so much for sharing...
Register for 2025 LARFP and PAC workshops!
Register for Fall 2025 Life as Rehearsal for the Poem and Poetics as Cosmology! Fall 2025 Life as Rehearsal for the Poem and Poetics as Cosmology,...
Submissions for Reed Magazine
Submit to Reed Magazine by Nov. 1 California's oldest literary journal is accepting art submissions for their 159th issue! Free and paid submissions...
CPF9 Highlights!
CPF9 Highlights! We had an amazing time at the 9th Cascadia Poetry Festival, Oct. 10-12, 2025! It was amazing to see so many new and familiar faces...
Linda Russo on the verdant
or or As the planet heats up many animal species are either headed north or going extinct. This makes the work of the poet as witness that much...
Sharon Thesen on Creative Writing and English Departments
In 2014, poet Sharon Thesen gave a talk at a Creative Writing Conference in Vancouver about the state of Creative Writing and English Departments....
CPF9 Friday Workshops!
CPF9 Friday Workshops The 9th Cascadia Poetry Festival is fast approaching! October 10-12, 2025, join us for a gathering and celebration of poetry...
Two versions of what will be basically the same workshop to discuss the concept of the daysong, how to accomplish one and what it means to the poet who pulls it off.
Thursday, January 22, 2026 3-5 PM PDT
Monday, January 26, 2026 3-5 PM PDT
Workshop Cost: Free, with optional donation of $20-$100.00 (On Zoom)
Daysong Workshops 2026
Cascadia Poetics LAB Blog
Jan 2, 2026 Interview with Cornelius Eady on Proof
On January 1, 2026, a 34-year-old, immigrant, Muslim, democratic socialist mayor was sworn in to run the largest city in the United States. When...
Hello 2026!
Happy New Year from Cascadia Poetics Lab! Happy New Year! Thank you for another successful and enriching year for poetry and place in Cascadia! This...
Trevor Carolan on Making Waves: Reading BC and PNW Literature
In this edition of Cascadian Prophets, Trevor Carolan talks about Making Waves. If artists are the antennae of the race, then the poets and writers...
Poetry Postcard Fest 2026
Early Bird Registration
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.
In Memory of Jack Foley
This interview is brought to you in memory of Jack Foley, who passed away earlier this month at the age of 85. The interview is with Jack and his wife Adelle, who were poets from Oakland, California.
Podcast (prophets-podcast): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 43:43 — 60.1MB)
thinkingwith: writing strategies for reconnecting to earth
Our current media landscape seems hooked on a doom loop, an apocalyptic dream of human self-annihilation from collapsing nation states and anarchy to climate change to AI terminators, to genocidal warmongering. In order to avoid going down with that ship, we, as humans, are going to need to flip the script, to learn to think differently.
Click this link for more information about the workshop Thinkingwith: Writing Strategies for Reconnecting to Earth.
Sundays 3-5:00 PM Pacific Time
February 15, 22, March 1, 8, and 15, 2026
thinkingwith: writing strategies for reconnecting to earth
Our current media landscape seems hooked on a doom loop, an apocalyptic dream of human self-annihilation from collapsing nation states and anarchy to climate change to AI terminators, to genocidal warmongering. In order to avoid going down with that ship, we, as humans, are going to need to flip the script, to learn to think differently.
Click this link for more information about the workshop Thinkingwith: Writing Strategies for Reconnecting to Earth.
Sundays 3-5:00 PM Pacific Time
February 15, 22, March 1, 8, and 15, 2026
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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.