An amazing testimonial for the Poetry Postcard Fest though it was not intended to serve that purpose. It is from Kosho Itagaki of Temple Eishoji (where I sit three days a week.) He writes:

🚤 Standing at the Brink

Choosing Not Productivity, but Prayer

We live at a hinge in history.

Climate, culture, consciousness — all tipping.

What comes next may not be decided by grand strategies,

but by the texture of our attention.

To return to slowness.

To learn to sit with silence.

To leave space in speech —

these are not regressions, but reorientations.

We do not need more weapons of noise.

We need a poetics of restraint.

Perhaps the final question is this:

Will we die shouting, or live listening?

A haiku will not save the world.

But it reminds us what is worth saving.

The Poetry Postcard Fest never fails to constantly reveal new depths, which is part of what is validated in Kosho’s Substack post from which I got those words. See: https://kinpukosho1.substack.com/i/166776813/standing-at-the-brink When July 4 rolls around and the PPF participants who have address corrections are fulfilled, the Fest gives me the opportunity to practice resistance to the mainstream culture and to fortify the “texture of our attention.” Connections to like-minded people are made, moments of deep reflection and even intimacy are shared and we become more human. It’s not all poetry that has this capability, but the poetry that Zen favors, when the poet is not trying to get us to change our mind, or make a point, or be anything but present in the moment of composition to give us the gift of their time and perception. This deepens during the 56 days of August, which is what I sometimes call the Poetry Postcard Fest. What a blessing this exercise has been for me. Registration for 2025 is still open. Consider participating.