Thankful Thursday: Curiosity & Care

Viva Poesia! a postcard poem from Renee Gionet of Oregon.

AFTER a steady stream of arrivals, my mailbox is now empty.

I just completed the annual Poetry Postcard Fest, an organized commitment to write and mail poems on postcards to 32 strangers. Now in its 18th year, the event drew nearly 500 participants from nine countries and 46 U.S. states.

A postcard leaves little room to ramble. Every word counts and writing in the short form sharpens your skills — and fast.

Organizers urge participants to write spontaneous poems. This, they emphasize, is not the time to peacock your best work but an opportunity to write fresh and explore.

New Yorker, a postcard poem from Karyn G. of North Carolina.

MANY of my poems were real clunkers — as first drafts tend to be — and I was initially embarrassed to share my rough work with others. But once I gave myself permission to stumble, I loosened and let the process become one of exploration and discovery.

“That most of the poems I received were awful was beside the point,” says organizer Paul Nelson. “That most people were trying, were making themselves vulnerable and were learning little by little how to be in the moment and let the language itself have its say, was a victory.”

I looked forward to the daily writing practice. The bonus was receiving postcards and poems — in careful hand, in sloppy scrawl, with stamps, postmarks, and the fray of miles traveled. Cards arrived from Washington, Oregon, North Carolina, Louisiana, California, Canada . . . Nearly every day a new voice arrived — each unique, fresh, and willing.

Postcards: La Cathédrale from Diana Herrera of Washington; Pantone from Scarlett Watters of Colorado; Candle breath and shadows from Madison Hutson of Louisiana.

AS the stack of postcards grew, I felt a thread connecting me to people I didn’t even know. We’re making things, I marveled, separately but together!

And just as I thought things couldn’t get better, I received unsolicited postcards from friends. They saw my enthusiasm for the project and joined in! (Thank you Dave, Candice, Fred & Carol).

IN this, I am reminded how little it takes to shift my mood, my perspective, my day. Maybe a postcard is just a thin piece of paper and a passing wave. But it’s also a small, great gift, sent with intention.

As postcard poet E. Tan wrote to me:

Here’s to curiosity and care today.

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It’s Thankful Thursday, a weekly pause to express appreciation for people, places, things, and more. Attention attracts gratitude, and gratitude expands joy. Please join me.

What are you thankful for today?

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