MOST RECENT OPA NEWS
- Help Save Tsunami Books
Tsunami Books, for many years an anchor of the poetry scene in Eugene and outlying areas, is fighting for its life. Poetry lovers have already pledged over $120,000 to save the bookstore. Another $100,000 is needed.
Pledge or donate at Tsunami’s website!
Share a Tsunami story in the comments.
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LATEST UNIT NEWS (EXCERPT)
- ROGUE VALLEY
ROGUE VALLEY
The Down Towne Poets, a monthly reading held in Dan and Sarah Goyette’s Down Towne Coffee House, in Talent, was started in 2005 by Deborah Thornley, who moved to Tucson in 2007, leaving the program to be coordinated by Dave Harvey. Co-host Carol Brockfield and he have continued to ... Read all of this item.
MEMBER NEWS
- Nancy Christopherson
“Wind” published in Hawaii Pacific Review. Online at https://hawaiipacificreview.org.
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LATEST BOOK REVIEW (EXCERPT)
- Everything is Shining By Jan David Madsen, reviewed by Emily Pittman Newberry
Everything is Shining By Jan David Madsen
Lulu, 2016, 66 pages, $15
ISBN 978-1329812314
Available at https://www.lulu.com/
Author website: https://zestymumbles.com/Reviewed by Emily Pittman Newberry
When Carolyn Martin sent out a call for poets to write reviews of books, I scanned the list of books on the OPA website and was drawn to Everything is Shining just by the sound of the title. As I read it through the first two times, I loved many of the poems.The book opens with some intriguing pieces. “Dust To Dust” is a nicely done meditation on the concept of no thing. No thing is the belief in a deeper reality that is neither what we think of as nothing nor made up of stuff. It is more real than the material world around us. The poem begins, Ask when I first knew that everything/was shining, all ... Read all of this item.
MOST RECENT POET’S SPOTLIGHT
- Pat Banta: In Memoriam August 28, 2016
It’s our sad duty to announce that former OPA president, board member, and poet Pat Banta passed away in March of this year.
Patricia Banta was born on December 31, 1924 in Los Angeles, CA, the only child of Ernest G and Deloris (Éclair) Henry. She died March 25, 2016 in Roseburg.
She attended school at U.C.L.A where she received her teaching credential. She taught five and a half years in California before moving to Oregon in 1959. There she continued to teach until retiring in 1980.
Pat enjoyed poetry and her poems were widely published in numerous newspapers and literary magazines. She reviewed well known poets and their books for a variety of College Quarterlies.
OPA member Doreen Wiley writes:
REMEMBERING PATRICIA (GOW) BANTA
Pat Banta was active on the Oregon poetry scene in the mid-1960’s and 70’s when she and I worked on the OSPA board and served as presidents, as ... Read all of this item.