MOST RECENT OPA NEWS

• Oregon Poetry Association Spring 2019 Contest Winners

  OPA congratulates all the winners below, and thanks them
  and all the poets who entered for sharing their work.

  Watch for individual poems to appear in Poet’s Spotlight over the coming weeks.

  Poet’s Choice — John
  Sibley Williams, Judge

  1st Place: “Maps” by Jennifer Dorner, Klamath Falls, OR

  2nd Place: “passing” by Deborah Akers, Portland, OR

  3rd Place: “Observing the Arsonist” by Colette Jonopulos,
  Denver, CO

  1st Honorable Mention: “Awaiting the Child” by Carol
  Ellis, Forest Grove, OR

  2nd Honorable Mention: “I.” by Tamarah Rockwood,
  Bainbridge Island, WA

  3rd Honorable Mention: “I Want to Speak Norwegian” by Linda
  Ferguson, Portland, OR

  Members
  Only — José Angel Araguz, Judge

  1st Place: “Lake Ridge Drive” by Jennifer Dorner, ... Read all of this item.

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MEMBER NEWS

• Posted: February 28, 2019
  

  Carolyn Martin Launches a New Collection

  Carolyn Martin is happy to announce the launch of her latest poetry collection, A Penchant for Masquerades (Unsolicited Press, 2019).

  Celebrate with her at

  The Milwaukie Poetry Series
  March 13, 2019
  6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
  The Ledding Library Pond House
  2215 SE Harrison Street
  Milwaukie, OR

  From the universal to the personal, ...

LATEST BOOK REVIEW (EXCERPT)

• Litany for Wound and Bloom by Judith H. Montgomery, reviewed by Catherine McGuire

  

  Uttered Chaos Press, 2018, 80 pages, $19

  ISBN 978-0-9998334-1-4

  https://www.utteredchaos.org

  As I often do when I start a book of poetry, I opened Judith
  Montgomery’s Litany for Wound and Bloom
  at random and dove in. The poems are startling and beautiful, standing on their
  own even without the arc of the arrangement, though that had its own pleasing
  form.

  “Listen” drew me in first, repeating some lines like a refrain (if the moon had been tatter and fog… if I lived in green valleys of wheat), making the unfolding story
  even more appalling, like a lullaby turned horror story.  

  In the three evenly-divided sections – (Womb), (Word), (Witness)
  – which concern motherhood – all the joy and ... Read all of this item.

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MOST RECENT POET’S SPOTLIGHT

• 2019 Spring Contest, Members Only: Honorable Mentions and Judge’s Comments

  May 25, 2019

  Honorable mentions:

  1st Honorable Mention: “Jill Reaches
  Maturity” by Ann Magill, Ashland, OR

  2nd Honorable Mention: “Once” by Sherri Levine, Portland, OR

  3rd Honorable Mention: “Killjoy” by Lucy
  Cotter, Portland, OR

  Judge’s comments

  One of the things I continue to admire about
  the Oregon poetry community is its range in personal narratives, technique, and
  style. In this year’s “Members Only” category, family narratives were shuffled
  in with lyrically challenging poems, haiku with prose poems, and so on. This
  bounty of styles speaks to the health and expansiveness of Oregon poetry. In my
  selections, I found myself narrowing down based on what brought me closer to
  the page, whether that be a personal lyric rendered in such a way as to paint a
  clear image of a love relationship, to poems whose recasting of ... Read all of this item.

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