Poetry Postcard Fest 2026
Early Bird Registration
The Poetry Postcard Fest is an annual 56-day experiment in spontaneity and community building. This literary 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.
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
Postcards of the Past and Future
From PPF committee member Margaret Lee: I live in Tulsa on Route 66, where postcards are easy to find. You have seen the kind I mean: that map of the U.S. with a bold red line connecting Chicago to...
PPF Donor Workshop June 11
PPF Workshop for Donors! Postcard season is coming up soon! As a thank you to our dedicated postcard poets and generous donors, we are hosting an online workshop for supporters of the Poetry...
2025 PPF Open House VIDEO
PPF 2025 Zoom Open House On Wednesday, May 28, we hosted an open house via Zoom to talk all things Poetry Postcard Fest! Paul and I were joined by PPF committee members Ina Roy-Faderman, Zach...
Where Do You Find Postcards?
From PPF committee member Sally Hedges-Blanquez: Where Do You Find Postcards? Your home: During Covid lockdown I made postcards from cereal and cracker boxes. Costco: I get a couple poster board...
June 8 4-7 Postcards from Mapes Creek
Postcards from Mapes Creek on June 8! Join us on June 8, 2025 from 4-7 PM at Mapes Creek for a community poetry postcard gathering! At the mouth of Mapes Creek, we will gather with a postcard...
Postcards for Prisoners
From Judy Kleinberg: We had an excellent discussion of writing to incarcerated people last night in the Zoom Room. Hosted by Zach Charles and featuring Betty King of Bisbee, Arizona, Matt Trease of...
19th Poetry Postcard Fest Stats
19th Poetry Postcard Fest Statistics Registration for the 2025 Poetry Postcard Fest is now closed! We hope all participants have enjoyed the first couple weeks of this summer's postcard poetry...
Postcards at the Olympic Sculpture Park
On July 13, 2025, Cascadia Poetics Lab hosted a postcard collage table at the Olympic Sculpture Park. 60 Seattle residents and park goers joined us in making postcard collages and writing poetry on...
PPF International List!
PPF Lists! Thank you to everyone that registered for the 2025 Poetry Postcard Fest. REGISTRATION FOR PPF 2025 IS NOW CLOSED. We understand that some lists had mistakes, and we appreciate your...
Learn about different techniques and perspectives in writing and designing with longtime Poetry Postcard Fest poet Tim Mateer! Tim will provide access to his process of making poetry postcards. He has created and mailed over 2,000 Poetry Postcards in his illustrious postcard career.
Sunday, November 22, 10AM – 12PM
Workshop cost: free to Poetry Postcard Fest 2026 Registratants. Optional Donation of $40.
Postcard Workshop With Tim Mateer
Postcard Workshop With Tim Mateer
Learn about different techniques and perspectives in writing and designing with longtime Poetry Postcard Fest poet Tim Mateer! Tim will provide access to his process of making poetry postcards. He has created and mailed over 2,000 Poetry Postcards in his illustrious postcard career.
Sunday, November 22, 10AM – 12PM
Workshop cost: free to Poetry Postcard Fest 2026 Registratants. Optional Donation of $40.
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
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
The Poetics of Cascadian Land and Water
A 5-week online Cascadian poetry workshop, on zoom.
This is a workshop in poetic fusion. Cascadia began with a language that united cultures: Chinook Wawa. This series of workshops expands its gift of integration between the ancient languages of the Columbia and its new languages, French and English. To do so, it draws in American, Canadian, Wawa and North European poetries, with a concentration on opening doorways.
Click this link for more information about the workshop The Poetics of Cascadian Land and Water
Saturdays 3-5:00 PM Pacific Time
January 10, 17, 24, 31 & February 7
Cost: $250.00
The Poetics of Cascadian Land and Water
A 5-week online Cascadian poetry workshop, on zoom.
This is a workshop in poetic fusion. Cascadia began with a language that united cultures: Chinook Wawa. This series of workshops expands its gift of integration between the ancient languages of the Columbia and its new languages, French and English. To do so, it draws in American, Canadian, Wawa and North European poetries, with a concentration on opening doorways.
Click this link for more information about the workshop The Poetics of Cascadian Land and Water
Saturdays 3-5:00 PM Pacific Time
January 10, 17, 24, 31 & February 7
Cost: $250.00
Two versions of what will be basically the same workshop to discuss the concept of the daysong, how to accomplish one and what it means to the poet who pulls it off.
Thursday, January 22, 2026 3-5 PM PDT
Monday, January 26, 2026 3-5 PM PDT
Workshop Cost: Free, with optional donation of $20-$100.00
Daysong Workshops 2026
Daysong Workshops 2026
Two versions of what will be basically the same workshop to discuss the concept of the daysong, how to accomplish one and what it means to the poet who pulls it off.
Thursday, January 22, 2026 3-5 PM PDT
Monday, January 26, 2026 3-5 PM PDT
Workshop Cost: Free, with optional donation of $20-$100.00
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.
Click this link for more information about the workshop Thinkingwith: Writing Strategies for Reconnecting to Earth.
Sundays 3-5:00 PM Pacific Time
February 15, 22, March 1, 8, and 15, 2026
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.
Click this link for more information about the workshop Thinkingwith: Writing Strategies for Reconnecting to Earth.
Sundays 3-5:00 PM Pacific Time
February 15, 22, March 1, 8, and 15, 2026
Life as Rehearsal for the Poem and Poetics as Cosmology 2026 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 Winter 2026, we’ll explore a short history of Projective/Outside North America Poetry, focused on:
-
- George Bowering
- Fred Wah
- Daphne Marlatt
- Michael McClure
- Mary Norbert Kõrte
- John Olson
- Phyllis Webb
- Stephen Collis
- Sharon Thesen
- Barry McKinnon
- Cedar Sigo
- George Stanley
- Robin Blaser
Life as Rehearsal for the Poem (LARFP)
- Sundays 3-5 PM PDT
- March 29, April 5, 12, 19, and 26, 2026
Poetics as Cosmology (PAC)
- Thursdays 3-5 PM PDT
- March 26, April 2, 9, 16, and 23, 2026
How the Poetry Postcard Fest Works
Abhaya Thomas Postcard
How the Poetry Postcard Fest Works
Abhaya Thomas Postcard