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	Oregon Arts Commission	Oregon
Conference	Poet Speak	Oregon
Literary Organization	The Attic Writers Workshop	Oregon
Literary Organization	Silverton Poetry Association	Oregon
Writing Program	Oregon State University	Oregon
Festival	Oregon Shakespeare Festival	Oregon
Colony	Oregon Writers' Colony	Oregon
Poetry-Friendly Bookstore	Annie Blooms Books	Oregon
Writing Program	University of Oregon	Oregon
Poetry-Friendly Bookstore	The Bookloft	Oregon

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

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

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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Oregon

Recent & Featured Listings

Carl Adamshick

Primus St. John

Donald Dunbar

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