We love hearing about, passing on news about, and reading about our OPA members having poems published in literary journals, in zines, on web sites, and as a consequence of winning a contest. Please let us know where we can find your most recent publications, and use this page as a guide to the publications where OPA member’s poems appear!
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OPA Member News
SMALL FEATHER by Jade Rosina McCutcheon, reviewed by John Van Dreal
December 30, 2022Finishing Line Press, 2020, 40 pages, $14.99
ISBN: 1646622901
Available at https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/small-feather-by-jade-rosina-mccutcheon/
https://www.amazon.com/Small-Feather-Jade-Rosina-McCutcheon/dp/1646622901
The cover of Jade Rosina McCutcheon’s chapbook immediately caught my eye. Within a kaleidoscope of doodled line and color, a thought bubble speaking for the soul of the work declares, I AM Still Here. Within a few hours, I was at the book’s end, where the last poem “Into Green,” sings:into the stream, out of the dream she answered: ‘here I am’.
SMALL FEATHER begins with a joyous birth of energy in “Australian Bush Solstice” as McCutcheon introduces the grandeur of an evening in her homeland:
Our revelry bounces off full moon light flashes between stampeding clouds as a summer storm excites the air crackling the blue-green gums.
From there, the poet ambles through splendidly descriptive words, doodle drawings, and atmospheric black-and-white photos to the last page, where she concludes in “Into Green”:
A journey ended, yet begun a spider’s web is still being spun, around, within, the frog still sings inside the forest green, there spins.... a dream.
Surrounded by the textures, smells, and tastes of the Governor’s Cup coffee house, McCutcheon and I chatted about her life and work. Her accent and diction are delightful distractions, making almost everything she says both lyrical and engaging. She sees herself as just one person––a small feather in a collective—but also a witness, awake and observing. McCutcheon is academically accomplished, with two doctoral degrees and books on performance and consciousness. SMALL FEATHER is her first chapbook of poetry.
A resident of Australia until she relocated to the U.S. 20 years ago, she spends her days moongazing, writing, drawing, playing music, and engaging in numerous constructive activities, including social work, feminist studies, and supporting survivors of abuse.
Her work is deeply fused to her connections with people, the land, and the cosmos. The Australian terrain and its people spoke to her, spiritually and aesthetically, but when she moved to the States, she lost touch with those sources of inspiration. It took journeys to California’s Mt. Shasta and the Dorland Mountain Arts Community, Salem’s Minto Brown Island Park, and the Oregon coast, combined with her volunteer crisis work, to find the audible frequency of the American experience that now inspires her craft.
In her poem “Turquoise,” she writes:Sun deep carmine falls into dusty orange light sweet cumin smells dance spilling upon all the life in that house coming together deep inside the violet scented turquoise heart.
I may or may not have mentioned to her that those words might be fun to experience with a micro dose of psilocybin, but she certainly did tell me her intention in writing the passage was to create something fabulously imaginative and descriptive.
Her poems range from surreal and dreamy to the metaphysical, then to intensely insightful and boldly, but beautifully, tragic. In “After,” she writes of finding a dead sparrow:I am weeping outside, under the stars as though the bird were you small feather on the hardwood floor a sudden gust and you’re gone.
McCutcheon may see herself as a small feather, but her poetic voice is a grand plumage.
John Van Dreal lives in Salem and is a member of the Mid-Valley Poetry Society. He can be reached at [email protected].Holiday/Anti-Holiday Open Mic Dec. 13
November 12, 2022It’s the holidays. For some, our poetic hearts are singing. For others, we shout Bah! Humbug! and wish the insanity would end. When poets have strong feelings, they write poems. OPA invites you to a Zoom holiday/anti-holiday open mic on Tuesday, Dec. 13, at 7 p.m. Come share your holiday-oriented poems or, if your muse is being Scroogish, bring a favorite written by someone else. Bring your own eggnog.
UPDATE: If you signed up for the Dec. 13 Holiday/Anti-Holiday open mic before Nov. 18, please re-register. Your semi-tech president messed up. Humbug! Register at: https://oregonpoets.org/events-all/#opa-events. See you at 7 p.m. on Zoom.
Bob Sterry Joins OPA Board
November 12, 2022Bob Sterry joined the OPA board on Nov. 7. He replaces Priscilla Hunter, who has moved to Texas.
Bob is a voice-over actor, audiobook narrator, writer of short stories and poetry, singer, occasional stage actor and humorist. Originally trained in England as a research analytical chemist, he immigrated into the United States in 1973, working as a wine waiter in New Jersey and a steelyard forklift truck driver in Connecticut before spending a professional career in the marketing of scientific instruments and services in New Jersey, Hong Kong and around the world.
It was not until he started writing short articles, essays and poetry whilst patiently waiting for airplanes and customers and doctors and dentists that his creative writing talents found an outlet, and he began reading his poetry at open mics and singing seriously. He and his wife Anne-Louise Sterry, a well-known speaker, singer-songwriter, and storyteller, founded a short lived but much-loved faux cowboy wannabe band, ‘Anne-Louise and the Cascade Urban Cowboys’. Encouraged, he began his own show of songs and spoken word; a satirical cabaret with Broadway and the English Musical Hall grinning in the wings. Recent shows were ‘The Bob Sterry Atomic Summer Show’ and “The Book of Bob”, and “A Sterry Sterry Night” with Anne-Louise Sterry. Bob also appeared in the Stumptown Stages productions of “Ebenezer Ever after”, “Jekyll and Hyde,” and really enjoyed playing the role of Satan in Terry D. Kester’s production of “JB”.
Bob continues to wait patiently and write poetry and essays reflecting very much his cabaret style, with excursions into more serious commentary on life, humor and outright comedy. His first chapbook, “Wing Nut”, was published a decade ago and “The Bob Sterry School of Burglary” was published in 2018. No one else has yet dared to publish his work and it appears nowhere but here…and…perhaps there. By the way, he is passionate about cycle racing, cooking, language and literature.
Welcome New OPA Board Members
November 1, 2022The OPA board welcomed three new members at its Oct. 9 meeting and said sad goodbyes to longtime members, Dave Mehler, Dan Liberthson, and Rana Tahir. Shortly after the election, Priscilla Hunter, who has moved to Texas, submitted her resignation, so we will be filling one more seat at our November meeting. Thank you to all four for their years of service.
We are happy to introduce our new board members, all talented poets and capable board members.
Melissa Broderick Eaton, treasurer
A native Oregonian, Melissa has called Bend home since she was a small child, and now she and her husband are raising three creative boys there. After living and attending school in Costa Rica and Spain, she completed undergrad at Sweet Briar College and taught high school Spanish in Virginia before moving back to Bend permanently. At college, she stumbled into working independently with Mary Oliver for two years. Then she didn’t write for two decades. When Oliver passed away, Melissa kicked her writing into high gear out of a sense of tremendous obligation to not let that unbelievable gift go to waste. She completed an MFA in Writing with an emphasis in poetry in 2021 through Lindenwood University and her first poetry chapbook, black bird blue, came out at the end of August 2022. She spends her days as the IT Operations Manager for Bend-La Pine Schools and her free time writing, traveling, or out in the woods on her mountain bike.
Jade Rosina McCutcheon, events coordinator, assistant webmaster
Jade holds a Doctor of Creative Arts degree from the University of Technology, Sydney, and a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Melbourne. Her publications include the books Awakening the Performing Body, Embodied Consciousness Performance Technologies, and Narrative in Performance. A Kay Snow Award recipient, Jade’s poetry can be found in anthologies and journals such as Terra Incognita, (Bob Hill publishing 2019, Oregon), /pãn| dé| mïk/ 2020: An Anthology of Pandemic Poems, Beyond Words, and in The Silent World in her Vase. Her first chapbook, ‘SMALL FEATHER’ was published by Finishing Line Press, October 2020, and her second chapbook, ‘the tossing dream’ in March 2023.
Debra Wöhrmann, secretary
Debra lives in Portland and explores joy and sorrow, grief and ecstasy through writing. She leads generative workshops, taught community college for years, and believes in the healing power of putting words onto the page. Anyone can write poetry given the invitation and interest, she says. Her first collection is forthcoming in 2023 with MoonPath Press.
Returning to the board this year are:
Sue Fagalde Lick—President
Nancy Christopherson—Vice President and adult contest chair
Lauren Mallett—Cascadia youth contest chair
Lorna Rose-Hahn—social media chair
Efrain Diaz-Horna—membership chair
We look forward to serving OPA in the coming year and welcome your ideas and suggestions for upcoming events.
New poems coming from J.V. Foerster in two publications
July 12, 2022J.V. Foerster has forthcoming work in Green Ink Press, a UK publication, and Poems and visual art in The Field Guide Poetry Magazine.
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