Touring Season — a postcard poem by Drew Myron
Quick, write me a poem —
just a line will do, then
another. Letting go
is all it takes.
The best thing about the annual Poetry Postcard Fest is that it strengthens your creative will.
As with the traditional postcard sent while traveling, poem-messages are written in present tense, capturing small moments of the everyday. Like a freewrite, the poems are spontaneous and original, with little planning and no editing.
Good Medicine — a postcard poem by Drew Myron
What’s the key to postcard poetry success?
“Learning to trust your gut and not worrying about writing a ‘bad poem’,” says Paul Nelson, creator of the Poetry Postcard Fest. “Learning to put poetry closer to the front of your life’s focus once the fest starts (only for a few weeks) and look at everything as potential material for a poem.”
Still — a postcard poem by Drew Myron
It’s good advice, and it works.
The daily ritual readied me for the art of noticing: weather, landscape, light, mood, and more. And with practice I grew to trust my instincts and the mystery that rolled from my pen.
Unfortunately, my penmanship is messy. Quickly, I turned to my typewriter and discovered my typing skills are rough, too. My fingers are still sore from my old, but trusty, Royal Quiet De Luxe.
Typing slowed me down, and I grew to appreciate the clack of stuttered keys and slipping ribbon. Paired with an assortment of vintage postcards, I stepped into another time and place.
Parched — a postcard poem by Drew Myron
The poems I wrote each day for a month are likely not keepers. But no matter, the process planted seeds and exercised the writing mind. Spontaneous writing — and blindly sharing, with no edits, erasures, or fear — is a great way to stretch your creative possibilities.
I’m already collecting postcards for the 2025 Poetry Postcard Fest.