Nebraska

In 1921, Nebraska established a state poet laureate position, which is currently held by Matt Mason, who was appointed to a five-year term in 2019. Mason is the author of two full-length, Nebraska Book Award-winning poetry collections, including The Baby That Ate Cincinnati (Stephen F. Austin State University Press, 2013).

Type	Title	State
Festival	Plum Creek Children's Literacy Festival	Nebraska
Small Press	The Backwaters Press	Nebraska
Festival	Nebraska Book Festival	Nebraska
Literary Magazine	The Platte Valley Review	Nebraska
Reading Series	The Poetry Menu	Nebraska
Literary Magazine	Prairie Schooner	Nebraska
Conference	Nebraska Writers Guild Conferences	Nebraska
Small Press	Sandhills Press	Nebraska
Festival	Write Across Nebraska	Nebraska
Poetry-Friendly Bookstore	A Novel Idea Bookstore	Nebraska

Homestead National Monument

—Daniel Freeman, first to file claim, Jan. 1, 1863

Here, an abundance of trees, stream, prairie—
enough to sustain a family, prove up this plot of land,
the first of thousands to be claimed across America.

Place that was first inhabited by natives, lodge-
and tipi-dwellers, who also relied on the wood, water,
flourishing wild game—hooved, pawed, and winged.

Twyla M. Hansen

2016

Sonnet

Alas, that June should come when thou didst go;

I think you passed each other on the way;

And seeing thee, the Summer loved thee so

That all her loveliness she gave away;

Her rare perfumes, in hawthorn boughs distilled,

Blushing, she in thy sweeter bosom left,

Thine arms with all her virgin roses filled,

Yet felt herself the richer for thy theft;

Beggared herself of morning for thine eyes,

Hung on the lips of every bird the tune,

Breathed on thy cheek her soft vermilion dyes,

And

Willa Cather

1903

Eurydice

A bitter doom they did upon her place:
She might not touch his hand nor see his face
The while he led her up from death and dreams
Into his world of bright Arcadian streams.
For all of him she yearned to touch and see,
Only the sweet ghost of his melody;
For all of him she yearned to have and hold,

Willa Cather

1903

Poetry Near You

Nebraska

Recent & Featured Listings

Ted Kooser

Twyla M. Hansen

Willa Cather

Homestead National Monument

Sonnet

Eurydice

Poetry Near You

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Nebraska

Recent & Featured Listings

Ted Kooser

Twyla M. Hansen

Willa Cather

Related Poems

Homestead National Monument

Sonnet

Eurydice

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