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everyday poetics (postcard series)

everyday poetics is a postcard series that started in August 2017 and that I continued until March 21st, 2023.

I initially began this project as a way to keep working, even when my body or other circumstances made it difficult to immerse myself in works that demanded more of me. And then it simply became a part of my practice. 

There are 226 postcards in this series and I imagine that this is all that there will be, since I’ve begun a new postcard series.

everyday poetics (circulation) – October 14th, 2021

Below are some of the earlier postcards in this series.

everyday poetics (thaw) – April 6th, 2020
everyday poetics (A quarantine sound details whatever readings echo passing breath) – May 23rd, 2020
everyday poetics (a sky feather) – October 3rd, 2020
everyday poetics (is worth finding) – July 27th, 2019
everyday poetics (found bird drawing) – June 15th, 2019
everyday poetics (and so it was) – March 13th, 2019
everyday poetics (crumbs) – October 8th, 2018
everyday poetics (sunset) – March 19th, 2018
everyday poetics (like a bird) – August 20th, 2017

These postcards are printed on an Epson Stylus Pro 3880 printer, on MOAB’s Entrada 100% rag paper.

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With this practice of everyday poetics, I don’t necessarily create a new postcard every day. It’s an everyday, not an every day, project. There might be a stretch of time when no postcard is printed, while on other days there might be multiple moments that I end up working with. What is daily however, is that I try to be open to seeing/sensing moments of everyday poetics.

(November 15th, 2018)

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With the COVID-19 pandemic keeping me mostly inside the apartment, one of the things I thought I could do, is to try and mail out more everyday poetics postcardie letters. I thought that maybe finding a tangible, physical, personal piece of mail in one’s mailbox would be something others might appreciate, especially at this time when we’ve been asked not to gather or to visit with each other.

I have stamps. And thankfully last month I bought a new box of MOAB’s Entrada Rag Paper, so I can keep printing postcards. Well, at least until I run out of printer inks.

Last week I figured out that it takes one stamp to mail out an envelope with three postcards in it. So although in the past my postcardie letters would often be longer, at this time I’m limiting each letter to three postcards. This way, I don’t need to make trips to the post office to get my postcardie letters weighed. I can just drop them in a mailbox, whenever I go out for a short walk (keeping a distance of 6 feet from others, of course).

Today, I’ve started to make envelopes since I ran out of the store bought variety. And I’m remembering how satisfying it is to be making what I need from scratch or with whatever I have on hand. This process I realize is also comforting.

(Tuesday, March 24th, 2020)

2 thoughts on “everyday poetics (postcard series)”

    1. Heather, thanks for your lovely note. Those are actually my hands in the photographs. If you send me your mailing address in an email, I’ll send you a handwritten letter on the back of some postcards from this series. Perhaps on some that you don’t see here on my website.

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