Salem Poetry Project Featuring Steve Slemenda

Steve Slemenda attributes his initial love of words to having been raised in a home where his mother played the American songbook on their 50s hi-fi stereo and his older sister introduced him to early rock n roll emanating from her transistor radio. The sea change in rock lyrics in his teen years of the 1960s further deepened his sense of the beauty and power of language, as did listening to Vince Scully’s poetic play-by-play of Dodger’s baseball games. By the time he discovered early and mid-20th century American poetry at 15, the table had been set for a lifelong relationship with reading and writing.

He spent most of the next decade as a reporter and web press operator for the Silverton Appeal-Tribune. In 2000 he co-founded the Silverton Poetry Association and for 20 years was a chief organizer of the annual Silverton Poetry Festival. He is a founding member of the Mid-Valley Poetry Society. In the fall of 2018, MVPS launched a biweekly radio program, Poetry on the Air, at KMUZ in Salem; Steve hosted the program for over five years. In 2023 he had the honor of two first place awards in the OPA fall poetry contest, including the “new poets” category.

The Salem Poetry Project continues at the Bush Barn Annex, 600 Mission St SE, Salem. Parking for the Bush Barn and Bush House is located off of High Street and the Annex entrance is just to the left of the main entrance. Each week will present a featured reader followed by the Infamous Open Mic: 3 poems or five minutes whichever is first. Featured reader begins at 7:00 and the open mic will directly follow. For more information contact Marc Janssen at [email protected].