Update: FINAL Lists Are Out!
Poetry Postcard Fest 2026
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. Early registration opens annually on September 1 & allows poets to get tips on best fest practices via online workshops.
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
473. More Listening Than Longing
Here is the 3rd postcard poem from this year's fest and my 473rd overall since the postcard fest started in 2007. I love the Levertov quote to begin this poem. How many times do we hear poems that...
472. Dos Rodillas Artificiales
My second poem from the 2014 August Poetry Postcard Fest was inspired by a dream and by my ongoing investigation into how my body responds to certain negative thought patterns. The card is a photo...
471. Killing Gato
This is the first poem I wrote for the 2014 August Poetry Postcard Fest. It was inspired by a renewed plunge into Carla Bley's landmark album Escalator Over The Hill. (Audio. Pdf.) If you listen to...
Final 2014 Postcard Call
Signup for the 2014 fest is over. Website Countdown Clock Countdown Widgets The original call is here and is required reading for anyone participating. To participate, send your name, mailing...
How To Write a POstcard POem (10 Steps)
I've jumped the gun on the August 2013 Poetry Postcard Fest and I encourage you to do the same. Yes, there's already a primer on how to write the postcard poem (see this) but I have taken this to be...
Poems for Peace 2014
I am planning the third Poems for Peace event on September 21 at 7PM at Spring Street Center. Last year this was the post. This was how I connected the poetry postcard fest with the Poems for Peace...
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...
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