Oregon State Poetry Association

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Home About OSPA Join OSPA

Join OSPA

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Oregon State Poetry Association cordially invites you to become a member.

Note: You will need to download and print the OSPA membership form (pdf) in order to fill it out.
Then, please mail your check or money order along with the form to: OSPA, PO Box 14582, Portland, OR 97293.

Here’s what we offer you as a member:
  •  CONTESTS: Compete for cash prizes in twice-yearly contests. Special category for New Poets. Members of OSPA pay a flat rate submission fee of $5 per contest (Non-members pay $4 per poem.) Free Members-only contest, too.
  •  COMMUNITY: Meet and get to know other poets in your neighborhood. Join a reading and critique group and participate in local poetry readings. (If none exists in your area, start one) See our OSPA Units page for more details!
  •  INFORMATION SHARING: Receive the quarterly OSPA Newsletter for member news, conference information, contests rules and publication opportunities. You'll also receive our handsome annual anthology, Verseweavers.
  •  CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS: Attend Spring and Fall Poetry Conferences for workshops, talks, readings and special events at discounted rates.
  •  OPPORTUNITIES: Opportunity to expand your skills through hands-on workshops and critique groups with fine teachers. Opportunity to meet other working poets in the state; opportunity to display and sell collections of your poetry; opportunity to actively participate in the promotion of Northwest poetry.
  •  MEMBERSHIP IN NFSPS: Automatically become a member of National Federation of State Poetry Societies. (You'll receive the quarterly NFSPS newsletter, Strophes, with more contest news, and be eligible to enter 49 national poetry contests for a single low fee [50, if you're a high school student].)


ANNUAL DUES:
  • Regular: $27 (sign up for two years for $50) 
  • Senior (65 or over): $17 (sign up for two years for $31) 
  • College: (send copy of student ID) $16  (sign up for two years for $30) 
  • Age 18 and under: $12 (sign up for two years for $22) 
  • Family: $38 (sign up for 2 years for $70)
  • Sustaining Member: $50; Donor: $100; Benefactor: $250; Patron: $500
 

Who is OSPA?

Where is OSPA?

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OSPA's Mission:
To bring together, and nurture, the widest possible community of Oregon poets; to help Oregon poets, young and old, develop their talents and skills; to stimulate, at the grassroots level, a statewide appreciation of poetry; and, to raise public awareness of Oregon poets, past and present.

Newsflash

Reading,Open Mic Vanc 9/16

Do yourself a favor and be at Paper Tiger, 703 Grand Blvd. (between Mill Plain and Evergreen in Vancouver) on September 16th at 7pm . Please bring a poem or 2 to read at our open mic (5 minute max due to the number of readers), and join with some of the best poets in the Northwest declaiming their heartfelt musings. Plus the coffee can't be beat, as well as a host of other hot and cold beverages.
Dan Nelson 360-334-1129 or nelsondaniel59@yahoo.com


For September I am excited as a vulture over carrion (death smells sweeter to them than lilacs to us) to announce the appearance of Dennis McBride. Dennis is a Portland based freelance loiterer, writer, and part time barfly who barely graduated from Lincoln High School after completing his GED with marginal honors. He received an honorable discharge from the US Air Force after 4 years of service, despite being involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital in Texas for 1 month due to a misunderstanding. He later attended Witchita State for 2 consecutive months. He later spent most of his working life as an un-indicted co-conspirator in the medical/industrial complex. His work has appeared in 'The Oregonian', 'The LA Times', 'The Washington Post', 'NBC Radio-Los Angeles', and numerous poetry anthologies and periodicals including the Canadian magazine 'Open Minds' and the California magazine 'Journal'. He has recieved positive notice of his work from Edward Albee and the late, Pulitzer Prize winning author William Styron. He is the author of two works of poetry and satire, "Looking for Peoria" and "Killing the Mockingbird" He was the recipient of the 1996 Andreas Berger Award for Poetry.He is still alive and lusts, lies, cheats and steals-but only when it's the right thing to do.