Christopher Luna’s poems and collages from the 2026 Postcard Poetry Fest
When I registered for this year’s Poetry Postcard Fest, I did not realize that it was the 20th anniversary of the project until I received confirmation of my registration from Paul Nelson. I have participated three times before: 2007, 2008, and 2019. The first decision I made was to use postcards featuring great works of art, which I would alter through collage. As I began writing the poems, a theme emerged almost immediately. I have recently been obsessed with the idea that all writing is a form of time travel. This obsession came from leading memoir writing workshops for more than a decade, and from re-reading the work of Alice Notley, whom I had been fortunate to study with at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics‘ Summer Writing Program in 1998. Most of the poems I wrote in august were about time: what it is, what it means, how we perceive it.
The poems were also impacted by the traveling I did in August, first to New York for a celebration of life for my friend Colin Poellot, and then a road trip I took to Columbus, Ohio with two of my siblings and a cousin to attend the wedding of our family friend Kevin Widmer. Because I am a Virgo and a compulsive completist documenter, I have also posted the collage and poem I created for the happy couple below. You will also read poems inspired by seeing one of my favorite bands, The Breeders, in Portland, who I haven’t seen live since the 1990s. You will also find bonus postcards that I sent to friends who were also participating in the project, but who were not on my list: Steve Diamond, Susan Rankin, and Thaida Williams.
PRINTED MATTER VANCOUVER 