Poetry Postcard Fest

An annual 56 day self-guided workshop in spontaneous composition and community-building.

Poetry Postcard Fest 2025 Event Registration Banner

Poetry Postcard Fest

An annual 56 day self-guided workshop in spontaneous composition and community-building.

Poetry Postcard Fest 2025 Event Registration Banner

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

522. More Recreation

Written in the heat of the recent Bernus Interruptus, which I witnessed and which my report of (I think) resulted in the loss of one postcard participant. The bloqueo reference is the Cuban economic...

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521. Composed in Solidarity

Since 2004, I've had a little soft spot in my heart for Muslims given that my spiritual practice (the Latihan Kejiwaan of Subud) was created (discovered?/invented?) by a Muslim. (I was initiated...

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519. Needs of the Market

On this 2015 August Poetry Postcard there is photo of the Chief after whom the city I live in is named. Is there another major American city that so directly honors its indigenous heritage? If yes,...

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Hallelujah, the Poetics of Music

(For Columbia City Gallery Literary Series, Dec 13, 2015) “We study the self to lose the self. Only when you forget yourself can you become one with all things.” - Dögen Some brief thoughts about my...

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518. Stankbeard

More Salish art in this latest 2015 August Poetry Postcard and a reference to yet another plant species identified this summer. It really DOES smell like peanut butter, but beards are entirely...

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Poetry Postcard Orientation

Poetry Postcard Orientation

We had an excellent time talking poetry postcards on Juneteenth, June 19, 2021. Over 30 people joined the Zoom affair as Poetry Postcard Fest Co-Founder Paul E Nelson talked about the origin of the...

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Postcards by Ellsworth Kelly

Postcards by Ellsworth Kelly

Postcarder Sally Hedges-Blanquez alerts us to: Ellsworth Kelly: Postcards will present a comprehensive survey of Kelly’s postcard collages, with 150 works on view. Many postcards reveal specific...

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Postcard Orientation

Postcard Orientation

Join us Via Zoom, Saturday, June 19, 2021 at 10am PDT for a Poetry Postcard Fest orientation. If you have never participated before, here's your chance to see how it works. If you HAVE done the fest...

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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

Poet as Radio web banner

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

Poet as Radio web banner

Robert Duncan’s H.D. Book: The Roots of Modernism with Michael Boughn

Banner Robert Duncans HD Book 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

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

Banner Robert Duncans HD Book Michael Boughn

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

  1. Whitman & Dickinson
  2. WCW & Lorine Niedecker
  3. Olson & Levertov
  4. McClure & di Prima
  5. 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
    The Poetry Postcard Fest, initiated by poets Paul Nelson and Lana Ayers in 2007, invites participants to create and send 31 original poems on postcards throughout August. The fest emphasizes spontaneity, with poems written in one take directly onto postcards for recipients worldwide. Registration opens annually on September 1, and participants receive a list of fellow poets to exchange cards with. A $15 contribution supports the Cascadia Poetics LAB, and scholarships are available. For more details and resources on postcard poetry, visit How it Works or check out related essays and wrap-ups from past participants.

    How the Poetry Postcard Fest Works

    Abhaya Thomas Postcard

    How the Poetry Postcard Fest Works

    The Poetry Postcard Fest, initiated by poets Paul Nelson and Lana Ayers in 2007, invites participants to create and send 31 original poems on postcards throughout August. The fest emphasizes spontaneity, with poems written in one take directly onto postcards for recipients worldwide. Registration opens annually on September 1, and participants receive a list of fellow poets to exchange cards with. A $15 contribution supports the Cascadia Poetics LAB, and scholarships are available. For more details and resources on postcard poetry, visit How it Works or check out related essays and wrap-ups from past participants.

    Abhaya Thomas Postcard