the 2014 poetry postcard wrap-up

By all accounts, 2014 has been a good year for August Poetry Postcard-ers. Though some people were disappointed with the number of cards they received, most seem delighted, and continue to enjoy the surprise of finding a late-arriving postcard in the mailbox even well into September. (Comments are gathered from the project’s Facebook group.)

For this participant, it was the fourth year and the best haul yet. The people on my list received postcards from my extremely random collection — cards that have found their way to me from family, garage sales, past travels, etc. — and most of the poems were prompted by the image or the caption on the card itself.

After I finished my regular August list, I decided to keep going, sending cards to the people who had sent them to me (the way the list is set up, your receive from list is different from your send to list) and responding very directly to the poem they wrote. I still have a few more to send, but by the end of September, I’ll have around 60 little drafts and, among them, perhaps some lines that will find their way into more developed poems.

Paul Nelson is a founder of the August Poetry Postcard Fest, along with Lana Hechtman Ayers, and he is also this year’s poet wrangler. His blog serves as Postcard Fest Central and there you’ll find information about the annual event, including a 2015 countdown clock, Paul’s afterword about this year’s fest and details on the postcards and poems he sent, plus a page about the postcards he received.

Paul’s tremendous work on behalf of this event results in the production of an enormous amount of poetry, to say nothing of the expanded (worldwide) network of poets connecting with one another and the mood-enhancing effect on our mail carriers, who must certainly be amused at all this poetry traffic. Thanks, Paul.

Some of the other 422 people on this year’s August Poetry Postcard list are also sharing their poems (and/or their reflections on participating). To see more, click on the poet’s name (in some cases you may have to navigate through several pages to see all of the person’s postcards):

Anna Elkins • Barbara Jean Sunshine Walsh
Courtney Birst • Denise at NewPages • Jessica Goodfellow
Kelleyanne Pearce • Kristin Cleage Williams
Lisa Nichols • Martina Robinson • Mary Beth Frezon
McKenzie Lynn Tozan • Naomi / Kestrel Hill
Raymond Maxwell • S.E. Ingraham • Wrensong

If I’ve missed your postcard posts, please leave a comment with a link to your blog or website. Thanks!