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, suggested donation $25. Sign up here.
Cascadia Poetics LAB Blog
Veronica Martinez CPL Letter of Recommendation
Here is our final letter of recommendation in celebration of winning a Humanities Washington Award--the letter written by me, Veronica! We have...
Thank you for supporting CPL on Giving Tuesday!
We have the deepest gratitude for everyone that donated to the CPL Annual Fund and to our Giving Tuesday campaign on December 2! As we've said...
CPF9 Cascadia Mono Poem VIDEO!
Cascadia Mono Poem Reading On October 11, 2025, we closed the second day of the 9th Cascadia Poetry Festival with a mono poem. Poets read original...
Tess Gallagher on Surrounded by Weasels and Josie Gray
To preserve a bit of one's art is a true act of love, even if the book of stories that comes out is titled Surrounded by Weasels: Stories from the...
Exercise as a Prerequisite to Creativity – Sue Diewert on PPF
PPF 2025 poet Sue Diewert published a piece on the Poetry Postcard Fest in Sage-ing: The Journal of Creative Aging! You can read Sue's piece and see...
Zach Charles CPL Letter of Recommendation
In celebration of winning a Humanities Washington Award, we are sharing the letters of support and recommendation provided by CPL staff and...
Support the CPL Annual Fund for Giving Tuesday!
Support CPL for Giving Tuesday! It's that time of year again! As the weather chills and the days grow shorter, it is vital to soak in every moment...
CPF9 Saturday Afternoon Reading VIDEO!
CPF9 Saturday Afternoon Reading On October 11, 2025, we continued he 9th Cascadia Poetry Festival with an afternoon reading. Matt Trease facilitated...
Support the Poetry Postcard Fest!
Support PPF on Giving Tuesday! Thank you for supporting Cascadia Poetics Lab and the Poetry Postcard Fest! Thanks to you, an estimated 18,000...
Cascadia Poetics LAB Blog
20th annual Poetry Postcard Fest Special Project
Hello Postcarders, Bioregionalists, Poets, et.al, I am writing you today on behalf of Cascadia 2050 to invite you to participate in a special...
CJ Prince Has Passed
Longtime Bellingham, WA postcard poet CJ Prince has lost her battle with cancer. The news went out on her Facebook page via her Grandchild and Denny...
Postcards at Kubota Garden
The Cascadia 2050 crew will continue the series of springtime Poetry Postcard Activations Saturday, April 18, from 11a - 1p at Kubota Garden, a...
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.
Bill Barillas on Theodore Roethke
In this edition of Cascadian Prophets, we hear Bill Barillas on Theodore Roethke. Bill Barillas is the editor of A Field Guide to the Poetry of Theodore Roethke and serves on the board of The Friends of Roethke Foundation.
Check out more of what the Lab does here, and listen to more current and archival podcasts on Spotify or on our website.
Podcast (prophets-podcast): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 53:18 — 73.2MB)
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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.


































