Oregon

In 1923, Oregon established a state poet laureate position, which is currently held by Ellen Waterston, who was appointed to a four-year term in 2024.

Type	Title	State
Literary Organization	Lane Literary Guild	Oregon
Small Press	Oregon State University Press	Oregon
Poetry-Friendly Bookstore	St. John’s Booksellers	Oregon
Literary Organization	Literary Arts Portland	Oregon
Literary Organization	Independent Publishing Resource Center	Oregon
Poetry-Friendly Bookstore	Third Street Books	Oregon
Literary Organization	Oregon Poetry Association	Oregon
Festival	Wordstock	Oregon
Poetry-Friendly Bookstore	Tsunami Books	Oregon
Literary Organization	Writers On The Edge	Oregon

Four Poems for Robin

Siwashing It Out Once in Suislaw Forest

I slept under     rhododendron
All night    blossoms fell
Shivering on	a sheet of cardboard
Feet stuck   in my pack
Hands deep    in my pockets
Barely  able    to   sleep.
I remembered    when we were in school
Sleeping together   in a big warm bed
We were     the youngest lovers
When we broke up     we were still nineteen
Now our   friends are married
You teach  school back east
I don’t mind     living this way
Green hills   the long blue beach
But sometimes	  sleeping in the open
I think back    when I had you.

      A Spring Night in

Gary Snyder

1968

Untitled [The more I go, the harder it becomes to return]

The more I go, the harder it becomes to return. To anywhere. There is no one at the ocean this morning. I walked by the campsites and smelled eggs and pancakes. And there were sweet Oregon cherries and watermelon. I wonder if I can go back—what purpose there would be in it—or in any other thing? There’s something expensive both ways. Yesterday a woman told me to get a tide schedule and if the people refused to give it to me, I had to insist. She usually gets hers from the Hilton but I don’t know where that is so I just imagine the schedule. There is a tide.

Jennifer Denrow

2011

there are these old fires

i. Powell’s Bookstore Coffee Shop, Portland

it’s all lit up with volcanoes
Chris says of Oregon
where I write of new fires
burning old animals
but there are these old fires
I don’t heed—

Kaia Sand

2016

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Oregon

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Maxine Scates

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Four Poems for Robin

Untitled [The more I go, the harder it becomes to return]

there are these old fires

Poetry Near You

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Oregon

Recent & Featured Listings

Maxine Scates

Ursula K. Le Guin

Marilyn Chin

Related Poems

Four Poems for Robin

Untitled [The more I go, the harder it becomes to return]

there are these old fires

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