Poetry Postcard Fest
An annual 56 day self-guided workshop in spontaneous composition and community-building.
How it Works
The fest is a self-guided 56 day workshop in spontaneous composition and community. Click to learn more about How it Works.
Poetry Postcard Fest News
Voices of the Grieving Heart
Veteran postcard poet NanLeah Mick is helping with this poetry event: Voices of the Grieving Heart A Poetry Reading by Six Contributors with Mike Bernhardt, Kris Kington-Barker and John Fox ~ Free...
bluebird (bloo-burd)
Ellensburg, Washington postcard poet Joanne Thomas has released a book of poems; inventive "definitions" entitled bluebird (bloo-burd). TWO postcard poems chime in as Bluebird blurbers, Bethany Reid...
Consider Supporting SPLAB during Give Big
I am asking your support for SPLAB during Give Big and contributions are being accepted now. As you may know, SPLAB is the non-profit organization that facilitates the Poetry Postcard Fest....
A Birthday Wish for the National Poetry Month (from Nina Murray)
My birthday falls during the National Poetry Month in the U.S. I also happen to be a poet, so when people send me texts, presents, and other nice things for my birthday, I feel like poetry and poets...
Karen Loeb Reading
Wisconsin postcard poet sends news: Hi Paul-- I'll be giving a presentation at the U. of Wisconsin-Stout in celebration of Nat'l Poetry Month this coming Mon. Apr. 12 @ 7:00 pm CDT. I'll be reading...
The Lost Postcards of Diane di Prima
As mentioned in last week's post, the 15th year of the Poetry Postcard Fest will be in honor of two brilliant poets we lost in 2020, Michael McClure and Diane di Prima. Diane was an actual...
J.I. Kleinberg: A Postcard Success Story
From PPF board member J.I. Kleinberg: Back in 2017, for reasons I cannot now recall, I found myself writing postcard poems about a scarecrow. I'd been involved in the Postcard Fest since 2011, but...
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....
A 5-week online poetry workshop designed for folks with a wide variety of experience with poetry and with a keen interest in spirituality and the occult. This course is more than a workshop; it’s a journey into the unknown, where you’ll discover hidden messages and ideas both from within yourself and the outside world. Through chance, divination, games, and ritual, you’ll learn to trust your intuition and let your spontaneity guide your writing.
Sundays 3-5:00 PM Pacific Time
September 7 – October 5, 2025
Poet as Radio: Writing from Intuition
A 5-week online poetry workshop designed for folks with a wide variety of experience with poetry and with a keen interest in spirituality and the occult. This course is more than a workshop; it’s a journey into the unknown, where you’ll discover hidden messages and ideas both from within yourself and the outside world. Through chance, divination, games, and ritual, you’ll learn to trust your intuition and let your spontaneity guide your writing.
Sundays 3-5:00 PM Pacific Time
September 7 – October 5, 2025
We will read The H.D. Book together over 5 weeks. It’s a big book, so that’s a lot of reading, but he’s a joy to read, so it’s not exactly onerous. I will probably talk a bit at the beginning of each session and then open it up to the participants. I wrote the introduction. You should read it first. We can talk about that as well. The goal here is to let Duncan lead us into an encounter with the marvelous as we follow his encounter with H.D. as it led him into the depths of history, mind, and soul.
Wednesdays 5:30-7:30 PM Pacific Time
September 17 – October 15, 2025
Robert Duncan’s H.D. Book: The Roots of Modernism with Michael Boughn
We will read The H.D. Book together over 5 weeks. It’s a big book, so that’s a lot of reading, but he’s a joy to read, so it’s not exactly onerous. I will probably talk a bit at the beginning of each session and then open it up to the participants. I wrote the introduction. You should read it first. We can talk about that as well. The goal here is to let Duncan lead us into an encounter with the marvelous as we follow his encounter with H.D. as it led him into the depths of history, mind, and soul.
Wednesdays 5:30-7:30 PM Pacific Time
September 17 – October 15, 2025
Life as Rehearsal for the Poem and Poetics as Cosmology 2025 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 Fall 2025, we’ll explore a short history of Projective/Outside North American Poetry, focused on:
Whitman & Dickinson
- Whitman & Dickinson
- WCW & Lorine Niedecker
- Olson & Levertov
- McClure & di Prima
- Daphne Marlatt, Brenda Hillman, & Nate Mackey
Life as Rehearsal for the Poem (LARFP)
- Sundays, 3-5 PM PDT
- November 2, 9, 16, 23, and 30, 2025
Poetics as Cosmology (PAC)
- Thursdays, 3-5 PM PDT
- October 30, November 6, 13, 20, and December 4, 2025
How the Poetry Postcard Fest Works
Abhaya Thomas Postcard
How the Poetry Postcard Fest Works
Abhaya Thomas Postcard