Poetry Postcard Fest
An annual 56 day self-guided workshop in spontaneous composition and community-building.
Poetry Postcard Fest
An annual 56 day self-guided workshop in spontaneous composition and community-building.
A five week online (Zoom) workshop for first-time and continuing participants in the online 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 the first of three, five week courses to happen before next postcard season. Click to learn more.
Thursdays 3-5:00 PM Pacific Time
January 9 – February 6, 2025
Poetics As Cosmology Workshop
Poetics As Cosmology Workshop
A five week online (Zoom) workshop for first-time and continuing participants in the online 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 the first of three, five week courses to happen before next postcard season. Click to learn more.
Thursdays 3-5:00 PM Pacific Time
January 9 – February 6, 2025
Life as Rehearsal for the Poem Workshop
A five week online (Zoom) workshop for first-time and continuing participants in the online 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 the first of three, five week courses to happen before next postcard season. Click to learn more.
Sundays 3-5:00 PM Pacific Time
January 5 – February 2, 2025
Life as Rehearsal for the Poem Workshop
A five week online (Zoom) workshop for first-time and continuing participants in the online 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 the first of three, five week courses to happen before next postcard season. Click to learn more.
Sundays 3-5:00 PM Pacific Time
January 5 – February 2, 2025
Poet, translator, editor, Zen Buddhist, co-founder of Copper Canyon Press, and activist for Poets Against (the)War, Sam Hamill devoted his whole life to the practice of writing poetry. The following topics are foundational for this generative workshop: how ancient poetic traditions still define quality poetry, the Beat poets, the long poetic sequence, poetry as political, and the role of reflection and emotion. Facilitator Katie Sarah Zale is writing a biography on Hamill’s life and legacy.
Saturdays 2-4:00 PM Pacific Time
February 8 – March 8, 2025
Sam Hamill’s Narrow Road to the Interior
Sam Hamill’s Narrow Road to the Interior
Poet, translator, editor, Zen Buddhist, co-founder of Copper Canyon Press, and activist for Poets Against (the)War, Sam Hamill devoted his whole life to the practice of writing poetry. The following topics are foundational for this generative workshop: how ancient poetic traditions still define quality poetry, the Beat poets, the long poetic sequence, poetry as political, and the role of reflection and emotion. Facilitator Katie Sarah Zale is writing a biography on Hamill’s life and legacy.
Saturdays 2-4:00 PM Pacific Time
February 8 – March 8, 2025
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.
This lab will focus on writing strategies, applicable for poetry or prose, for breaking the spell that objectifies and cuts us off from the earth and from place and all the living beings that we (often) obliviously live in relationship with. We’ll do that by intentionally widening the socially-imposed conventions of “normal” perception via some minor alterations to our daily writing practices.
Sundays 3-5:00 PM Pacific Time
February 23 – March 23, 2025
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.
This lab will focus on writing strategies, applicable for poetry or prose, for breaking the spell that objectifies and cuts us off from the earth and from place and all the living beings that we (often) obliviously live in relationship with. We’ll do that by intentionally widening the socially-imposed conventions of “normal” perception via some minor alterations to our daily writing practices.
Sundays 3-5:00 PM Pacific Time
February 23 – March 23, 2025
Poetry Postcard Fest News
Judy Jensen PPF 2021 Afterward
Thanks to Paul, Group 1, and the regulars who register every year. You all make the festival the celebration that it is. I’ve been participating in the festival from the beginning. Most years, as...
Stacey Jones Afterword
Hi Paul, As an afterword, here is a poem made up of the first lines of all the poems I received, and two images. Group 16, the stragglers! The woman holding a flower came from Greg Colburn of...
Post-Fest Open Mic Video
There were 45 attendees at the Poetry Postcard Fest Open Mic event, Saturday, September 4, 2021 via the dreaded (miracle) of Zoom. Richard Osler of Duncan, BC, was a brilliant emcee and Ina...
Post-Fest Open Mic
This year's post-Poetry Postcard Fest open mic will happen Saturday, September 4 at 10am PDT via Zoom. https://us02web.zoom.us/s/2064225002 If you would like to help coordinate it, please let me...
Marge Merrill RIP (A Tribute by Karen Lee Lewis)
MARGARET “MARGE” MERRILL, a life-long resident of Western New York and longtime participant in its poetry community, died suddenly on July 22 after a brief illness. She was 70. A former host of the...
Nina Murray’s Postcard Sourcing Tips
Nina Murray has a wonderful post about the fest and about where SHE gets postcards: So I thought I’d take this opportunity to list my all-time favorite sources of postcards (the listings are not...
2024 POSTCARD FEST REGISTRATION IS OPEN
The 2023 Poetry Postcard Fest is over & ends with the second largest participation in 17 years. See stats here. From The Fun Matters! “I keep signing up for the Poetry Postcard Fest every year,...
Announcing the Poetry Postcard Fest Project Board
Introducing the Poetry Postcard Fest Project Board, a committee of the Cascadia Poetics Lab dedicated to improving the experience of the annual Poetry Postcard Fest and expanding participation....
The Fun Matters!
by Margaret Lee I keep signing up for the Poetry Postcard Fest every year, primarily because it’s the most fun I ever have when writing poetry. Besides, I always make marvelous new friends! But the...
How the Poetry Postcard Fest Works
Abhaya Thomas Postcard
How the Poetry Postcard Fest Works
Abhaya Thomas Postcard