Poetry Postcard Fest - How would you know...

My 2025 Poetry Postcard Festival Exhibition…

November 9, 2025November 9, 2025humanist55

There are two major blogging challenges that occupy my year, Te A to Z Challenge and PoPoFest and each year of each Challenge/Festival, I seem to heap ever higher expectations on my particpation, and this year has been no exception! For the postcards, I like to make my own and so in 2023, I used favourite photographs I had taken, in 2024, AI generated images that hadn’t made the final selection for particular projects but which were good in their own right, and for 2025, I decided to revive my very intermittent painting skills.

I have painted since my teenage years, which you can read about in this year’s A to Z here. However, whi;st I spent much of my life in applied arts, signwriting, graphic design and the like, pure painting languished – how many times did I take my paints on holiday only to bring them home unused – so making at least 31 postcard-sized paintings (in the end I did more for bonus cards sent to me on the International List) was a challenge. I produced about 4 on most weekends through July and August, sometimes working on 2 at a time as each dried. Many were watercolour, many acrylics, some mixed, and one pencil drawing.

I’ve decided to post them in a single Exhibition post (Exhibit if you’re American) together with their handwritten (excuse the writing, please) poems, which according to the aims of PoPoFest, are to spontaneously write an epistolary poem to a stranger, preferably one which references the image on the postcard. I blew up photographs from years past, which I had hoped would make paintings and in particular, pictures from Crete where we spent 6 months during lockdown in 2020 – enjoy…

The sky here is watercolour, the rest acrylic, but even in this scan, it’s possible to see the greater luminosity of watercolour…

Watercolour, which enables the “tunnel” to glow with reflected light

Watercolour – the subtelties of the sky didn’t scan well…

Watercolour. The link is https://www.rte.ie/archives/2016/0729/805794-yeats-summer-school/ where you can see me painting a mural of WB Yeats

Watercolour and gouache on yellow, Elephant dung paper (I like its absorbency)…

Watercolour on buff, Elephant dung paper (this colour paper was a little too absorbent – too grabby)…

Watercolour with masking fluid. There should only have been 3 rails but I painted along the horizon line by mistake!

Acrylic and watercolour on yellow, Elephant dung paper.

Watercolour. The challenge here was to give the headland 3 3-dimensional form and not just make a flat cliff…

Acrylic. This allowed the nearly dry brush technique to create the reflections on the water.

This is the same subject as the previous painting but done in acrylic.

Top left is the photograph from which I made 3 different paintings…

08 November: Ten Things of Thankful

November 9, 2025November 9, 2025humanist55

Ten things for which I give thanks this week…

1 – After a pretty rainy week, Saturday morning dawned sunny…

2 – The reservoir above the village is now brim full, although the Yorkshire hosepipe ban is not yet lifted, it shouldn’t be long 9not that we need to water now lol)…

3 – I am always grateful to live in such a beautiful place and so, the sun out, I went up to “The Nab” to take a photo of Silsden village for you…

This is the reverse of the view from our house – The Nab is at top left…

And turning the camera round, here is the outcrop of Millstone Grit that forms The Nab. And yes, there is a quarry up there where agricultural workers with little to do in Winter, would carve millstones, water troughs and the like, out of the rock.

Whilst I was up there, a fog bank rolled in below me to the right…

And one more shot…

4 – Gratitude my daughter’s quite young Border Collie, Winnie, is sweet-tempered and settles down after initial excitement at greeting a visitor, quickly enough fo next weekend we shall be baby-sitting her at our house…

5 – By dint of Harrisa pepper, Dragons teeth deployment of sticks and thorny rose clippings, I seem finally, to have deterred the nameless cat who has been scratching in my bulb containers…

6 – I finished the very last task of my Poetry Postcard Festival participation for this year – a Cento poem using lines from each of the 43 poems on a postcard I received during July and August this year – it’s the post before this one, here on the blog…

7 – My friend who runs Collaborature – an online journal for collaborative poems, and I, have now topped 1,000 lines of what is turning into a novella written in Pushkin or “Onegin” sonnets after his book Eugene Onegin. You can read our epic “Shipmates” here.

8 – I shall have a busy but different week at work since my bosses are opening a self-storage warehouse in an old office building and they want me to be there for the first week to help get it running.

9. My grandson Dillon and his girlfriend Izzy, will be living at home with their parents Bev and Don in the next village, Addingham for the next year, having spent the Summer touring in their small camper van. They have asked me to teach them how to paint which will be fun…

10. Grateful to have been inducted into The Hall of Hostinae of Ten Things Thankful and for all the lovely messages of welcome from you all…

Destruction and Redemption

November 8, 2025November 8, 2025humanist55

Poetry Postcard Festival 2025 Received Postcard Cento

I: Destruction

People are waking in the night
hearts racing, blood pounding
dreams, fantasies, deceptions, escape
The future is – unexplainable
I try not to disturb them
when I slowly reach my hand toward
the culture that informed my values…
Cruel and crude, greedy old man
— shouting, destroying
the Bad King who demands from him,
the Good Kingdom
his world has become much smaller
a pretty close second
Puppets! Who is pulling the strings?
Like my heart, they did not weep
another missed connection, warped, failed
shouting colour into gray
streets where no one listens
the beauty of the Badlands

We know so little – despite knowing so much
Consumption society has chewed up
spit out this vast and beautiful continent.
transported in cardboard boxes
to lockers at Hub Food
discouraged now as our progress is torn down,
a government being dismantled
thinking then it can’t happen here. But it does
I’m not sure there is enough of me today
bobbing movement of nature
you are missed daily
somewhere unknown,
another world away;
it was there
….no more
what if I told you
still, I hope for forgiveness…
the suggestion of brokenness
the promise of wholeness
we are all a part of everything
– I can’t help hoping

II: Redemption
if humans could fly,
would we ever walk?
around my imagination
whatever you want’s okay!
I close my eyes
and breathe in fireweed
your magic encapsulates me
waiting for the perfect day
that clear blue sky
is here year round
stairway to heaven
sun drops sparkle air
to reach, always, for the light
someone is thinking of me
remembering gratitude’s
call to learn what
was above and
below
today’s sun reluctantly begins
to set…

Poets and lines:-
Penelope Moffet 1-2, Jerrold Narland 3, Kerfe Roig 4, Susan Montgomery 5-6, Lawrence Pevec 7, Nancy R. Parr 8-9, Emily Bernhardt 10-11, Anon. 12, Grant Swados 13, Margie Ripperger 14, Anon. 15, Akua Lezli Hope 16, Jeannine Jordan 17-18, , Mary Mueller 19, Cassandra Bissel 20, Suzanne Harris 21-22, Karen Keltz 23-24, Ruth Vanklstine 25-26, Laura Gamache 27, Anon. 28, Lulu 29, Dava Wharton 30, Margaret Roncone 31-32, Rebecca 33-34, Muriel Karrr 35, Lisa Humphrey 36, Anon. 37-38, Nitya Prema 39, Karen Loeb 40, Amy Leonard 41-42, Donita Ries 43, Sandra Gadjewski 44, Diana Kolpak 45-46, Margaret Hill-Daniels 47, Cathy Wetter 48, Mary Skeen 49-50, Lynn Caldwell 51, Susan Vespoli 52, Julie Naslund 53, Angela Marie Ebba 54, Lula 55, P. O’Neill 56-58,Pence 59.

Over at dVerse Poets Pub, Björn Rudberg (brudberg) in OpenLinkNight invites us to submit a poem of our choice…

This cento poem takes lines from all the postcard poems I received during the July-August Poetry Postcard Festival (POPoFest) run by Cascadia Poetics LAB out of Seattle, USA. Most of the participants are American but it seems that many want to send a postcard to poets elsewhere and so all the no-US poets are sent out on a separate list – so that I, as a UK resident, was lucky enough to receive 24 from my Group 4 list and 19 “bonus ” cards from the International list.

Taking a line from each, two poems emerged, which I have chosen to present as Parts 1 & 2 since the bleakness of the first needs amelioration by the optimism of the second…

Serendipitously, Björn’s optional prompt on this occasion was the writing of letters and the idea of the POPoFest, is to write Epistolary poems to the recipient that reference the image on the postcard, to write spontaneously without editing. I chose to reclaim my painting skills this year and sent 31 original paintings out, one of which is shown below…

2024 Poetry Postcard Cento

October 5, 2024October 5, 2024humanist55

In the heat and lack of rain
crow voices around
in a pond of questions
transient geese
possessing nothing
“I’m nobody
Who are you?”
“Who’s watching who doing what?”
“Is there freedom
in losing a memory?”
– This is where I come from…

Signalling who
you would like to meet.
“Excuse me” he cries,
asks me “Why
I’ve not done more?”
Turned, looked, then moved on
– the dominance
of our arrogance
I escaped barely – always
wanting more from my life

Whispers in the twilight
“Choice is gone…”
I’m drowning
not at all what we expected
as if reminders
– somewhere along there,
our words got lost
“Innocent, unlike us!”
never had I read such crap!

Violent metaphor –
it will fade like memories
nobody keeps or cares much
– pour over the gutters
of my soul
on a river of air
I peek through the dark…
it’s a tall order, carrying
this payload of freedom.

Fall will not be far behind
– some say one day we’ll
understand…

This Cento poem is made up of line(s) from every postcard I received from Group 10 plus Bonus cards …

Poetry Postcard Fest Follow Up Post 2024 #15

October 5, 2024October 5, 2024humanist55

Dear Melody

I felt. I felt it unencumbent on me
to explore AI. so I could see
what all the fuss was about.
I duly sought some pointers on the Internet
then jumped right in to experiment
and have to say – took to it like a duck to water!
To get the image just as you want it
clear instructions, you must formulate
when writing your Midjourney prompt,
even the order of instructions – best
before AI. goes off. and does the rest
But then again, keeping it simple
a single word – an abstract image
may deliver for your waiting. page
as in this image. – The prompt was
– Poetry…

Much Love
Andrew.

This last year, both I and many poets I know (in the Internet sense as opposed to the real world or the biblical), have started illustrating their work using AI images whose results are sometimes so stunning as to distract from the poems being illustrated. So are we shooting ourselves in the foot, gilding the lily…

The Poetry Postcard Fest is a challenge which encourages poets to write an unedited poem on a postcard and send it to a stranger. It is organised by the Cascadia Poetics Lab, which arranges the participants into lists of 31 + yourself for you to address your offerings to. This was my second year and I was on List 10. The lists are sent out in early July and you have until the end of August to send out your poetic missives – to date I have received 21 of 31 possibles and now that we are into September, it is allowable to share the cards and poems you sent.
Although the original poem is to be sent as written – crossings out, blots and all, I have typed them out for people who can’t read my writing and I am allowing myself to edit if I feel like it…

Poetry Postcard Fest Follow Up Post 2024 #14

September 28, 2024September 28, 2024humanist55

Dear Diana
I see you live down the coast
from Silicon Valley, home to A.I.
from where this image most
likely originated. Was there
joy in the inscrutable computer mind
as it conjured up these lovers
and did it understand “forbidden”
will it be driven mad by human kind
with our quirky ways and odd demands?
Matching the syle of Rousseau
was the least of its problems
a bit of jungle, random, passive animals
some 18th C fashion references
but did the AI comprehend
in any way – life through its lenses
could it debate its plagiarism and defend
the work it made – should we care
when the result gratified our senses?

Much Love
Andrew

I have included the bizarre stamp celebrating Dungeons and Dragons in the image of the card I sent…

Poetry Postcard Fest Follow Up Post 2024 #13

September 27, 2024September 27, 2024humanist55

Dear Kat

Google Maps let me take a peek
at your delightful bungalow
and filling the fountain – could that be you?
Perhaps in America they’re not called bungalows
a word we learned from our former
Indian, Imperial subjects
and at least use of the word had no
cost attached to it…
You Americans, former subjects too
now stand over the world yourselves
and know the pains and gains of rule
though U.S. foreign policy seems
a far cry from your peaceful lawn
and so I picked this bucolic
tile design, by an AI drawn
and hope you enjoy it’s faerie frolic…

Much Love
Andrew

I have included the bizarre stamp celebrating Dungeons and Dragons in the image of the card I sent…

Poetry Postcard Fest Follow Up Post 2024 #12

September 26, 2024September 26, 2024humanist55

Dear Brian

My only clue to you
courtesy of Google Maps
is that you live in a bungalow
on a tree-lined avenue
nicely displaying Autumn colours
on which slender basis I choose
to send you this AI vision
of a post-apocalyptic Knaresborough
(a nearby town in Yorkshire.)
The iconic railway viaduct
subducting beneath invading trees
a tiny signal box, brick-built
the last remaining trace
of civilization – so if we heed not
signs of climate change –
we may yet face this devastation…

Much Love
Andrew

The Poetry Postcard Fest is a challenge which encourages poets to write an unedited poem on a postcard and send it to a stranger. It is organised by the Cascadia Poetics Lab, which arranges the participants into lists of 31 + yourself for you to address your offerings to. This was my second year and I was on List 10. The lists are sent out in early July and you have until the end of August to send out your poetic missives – to date I have received 18 of 31 possibles and now that we are into September, it is allowable to share the cards and poems you sent.
Although the original poem is to be sent as written – crossings out, blots and all, I have typed them out for people who can’t read my writing and I am allowing myself to edit if I feel like it…

Poetry Postcard Fest Follow Up Post 2024 #11

September 25, 2024September 25, 2024humanist55

Dear Sarah

Midjourney AI in America
imagined the scene of Knaresborough
nearby nearby here in Yorkshire.
The viaduct carries trains to this day
but this small train drawn by Hokusai
has brought that artist through
both time and space
to envision Knaresborough
as a Japanese woodcut.
Whether you approve of AI. or not
this is a feat of creativity
of some sort which even
the makers of Midjourney
do not fully fathom…

The Poetry Postcard Fest is a challenge which encourages poets to write an unedited poem on a postcard and send it to a stranger. It is organised by the Cascadia Poetics Lab, which arranges the participants into lists of 31 + yourself for you to address your offerings to. This was my second year and I was on List 10. The lists are sent out in early July and you have until the end of August to send out your poetic missives – to date I have received 18 of 31 possibles and now that we are into September, it is allowable to share the cards and poems you sent.
Although the original poem is to be sent as written – crossings out, blots and all, I have typed them out for people who can’t read my writing and I am allowing myself to edit if I feel like it…

Poetry Postcard Fest Follow Up Post 2024 #9 & 10

September 23, 2024September 23, 2024humanist55

Dear Francoise
A little peek on Google Maps
shows me that Hedgesville
is the most charming of small towns
deep in W. Virginia’s Appalachians
and I picked this card because
it seemed “homespun”
though in truth it is the creation
of Artificial intelligence
if I may call it that…
I guess there are a lot of pictures
of the work of crafters for
an A. I. to learn from and oblige me
though in truth I can knit,
crochet, sew and embroider
as well as any man I know
but these little hearts could do
as ideas for “real-world” art
Much Love
Andrew

I sent a card but cannot match it to the picture on the front of the card and so #9 is my poem only…
If Emily Darby of Group 10 would care to DM me I would be most obliged…

Dear Emily
They say we
never really lose a memory
but if the mind is a palace
ever-expanding as we age
then for sure, we forget
how to find our way
through the labyrinth of corridors
where in places, ceilings have collapsed
and should we revisit darker passages
we should trail a long string
so we may retrace our steps
and not get lost for good.
But with each exploration
we may map the past
– define our own archaeology…

Thank you for your lovely
card of Mont Blanc, whose style
I adore… Much Love – Andrew