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
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.
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.
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
399. to Kitty Jospé, Pittsford, NY – Dark Horse
(Last...
397. to Tony Iovino, Rockville Centre, NY – Ghost Prod
5th in this year's series, #397 overall (damn!) this one (like the others so far this year) vamps off Nate Mackey and goes into Runic lore. I have...
396. to Dheepikaa Balasubramanian, Chennai, India – Indigent Petition
https://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/07/10/v-rmobi/155668/midwest-drought-may-spark-food.html...
395. to Maggie Kelly, Tacoma, WA – Lichen of Light Green (August Poetry Postcard Fest)
394. to Ben Cook, Edgewood, WA – Listenings
393. Blown Up (2012 August Poetry Postcard Fest)
I am writing this post on July 27, 2012, after composing and documenting the first three poems I am sending in the 2012 August Poetry Postcard Fest....
2012 August Poetry Postcard Fest Afterword
I put my last two postcards from this year’s August Poetry Postcard fest in the mail today and, with the baby resting, have a few minutes to share...
Postcards and Five Alarms
I was preparing for my reading tonight at the Five Alarms Lit Crawl in Greenwood. (Gratitud y Gracias to Aaron Kokorowski, Greg Bem, Graham Isaac,...
Poetry Postcard Exercise
Poetry Postcard Exercise Ted Berrigan, Robin Blaser and Jack Spicer are among the more notable poets to engage in such a project. Berrigan’s book of...
Cascadia Poetics LAB Blog
Cascadian Zen on Quadra Island Event
August 26 Cascadian Zen on Quadra Island A launch of Cascadian Zen Volume One with readings by Jan Zwicky, Robert Bringhurst, Paul Nelson, Jason...
Zach Charles Mid ’24 PPF
From PPF Committee Member Zach Charles: Yet again, while reflecting on the Poetry Postcard Fest, I am drawn to the way the project can reveal the...
A Weekend of Cascadian Zen: Cumberland
Watershed Press celebrates the Cumberland launch of Cascadian Zen Volume I August 24 & 25, featuring talks by poets, philosphers, and an...
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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.
James Rasmussen on Duwamish Tribe Recognition
James Rasmussen is a Duwamish Tribal member and Superfund Manager for the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition. he talked with Paul E Nelson about his Duwamish heritage, about the effort to gain federal recognition of the Duwamish Tribe, the entities that are fighting that recognition, the land recognition announcements that have become common and the Real Rent Duwamish campaign.
Podcast (prophets-podcast): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 37:42 — 51.8MB)
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.






























