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About OPA

The Ohio Poetry Association (OPA), chartered originally as the Verse Writers’ Guild of Ohio, is a nonprofit, educational volunteer organization with a 501(c)(3) Federal designation.

We exist to promote the art of poetry and support poets and others who appreciate poetry. Since being organized as in Columbus in 1929, the Ohio Poetry Association has become statewide in scope. We are eager to assist poets, whether amateur or professional, as they hone their craft.

The Ohio Poetry Association (OPA) is an affiliate of the National Federation of State Poetry Societies (NFSPS). Besides sponsoring our own state contests, members are eligible to participate in the numerous contests of other state affiliates. We are also a strong supporter of Ohio Poetry Day, a separate not-for-profit organization to which we have close ties through our founder, Tessa Sweazy Webb.

We work extensively in Ohio schools, helping students to understand, enjoy, and create poetry. The Ohio Poetry Association and its chapters sponsor and underwrite student poetry contests, including a spring high school competition that has been offered since 1976.

We provide Quarterly Workshops in Columbus which feature some of the finest Poets authors, publishers and teachers in the world.

Other services provided by the Ohio Poetry Association include:
  • an online calendar in which to list your poetry venue, events and workshops
  • a quarterly newletter, "Workshopping Your Words"
  • a journal of poetry, Common Threads, featuring contributions from members
For more information and to become a member, please visit our website.

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OPA Ambassadors Report: NE Ohio with Ray McNiece

From the frozen tundra of the Firelands, through the rusty blast furnace of Cleveland, along the Crooked River’s ice chattering shallows of Kent, down to the worn rubber slushy tire churn of Akron, to the gritty grey clang of Youngstown there’s hot stove poetry cooking this winter all across the Northeast corner of Ohio. We boast a plethora of venues from bookstores, libraries, coffeehouses, cocktail bars and clubs where you can hear the varied carols of our poets should you dare venture out into our perpetually grey climes. Here’s a few highlights, some upcoming features and a reminder of ongoing workshops and reading series. In early December Billy Collins read at CWRU’s Maltz Center to a packed house. He often visits Cleveland thanks to George Bilgere of JCU. John Burroughs had a front row seat. The Tongue in Groove Poetry Music Jam (every third Sunday at the Millard Fillmore on Waterloo hosted by Ray McNiece) featured Mwatabu Okantah reading from his new book A Black Voice in t...

Odes of October 2024 Contest Winners Announced

OPA is pleased to announce that our judge for 2024, Karen Scott, has chosen the three winners and three runners-up for the 2024 Odes of October contest. First prize is awarded for "Restless Peace," by Jo Anne Moser Gibbons. First prize includes an award of $65 and inclusion in the 2025 issue of Common Threads, as well being published below. Second prize goes to "Scarecrow," by Dr. Anna Cates. This prize includes an award of $25 and appears below. Third prize goes to "Fall," also by Jo Anne Moser Gibbons. This prize includes an award of $10 and appears below. Honorable mention poems were: "Rite of Passage," by Claire Scott Rubin "Alone in Silence," by Jonathan Smith "Assassination Attempt Haiku," by Susan Glassmeyer Karen said she found her task made more difficult by the high quality of submissions, so each participant should be congratulated for their work. We thank them for participating and being a member of the OPA. A spe...

Barbara Sabol and Erica Reid named 2024 Ohio Poets of the Year

The Ohio Poetry Day Association has selected Barbara Sabol and Erica Reid as our 2024 Ohio Poets of the Year. Congratulations to these two amazing writers! Barbara Sabol was selected for her book of poems, WATERMARK: Poems of the Great Johnstown Flood of 1889 (Alternating Current Press, 2023) .  The poems in WATERMARK follow the path of the “great flood,” from the time prior to the perfect storm of events resulting in the disaster to the devastating aftermath and the reclamation of a bustling industrial city. The book is a poetic testimony of the great flood story through voices of the unidentified victims; their circumstances and lives imagined from morgue entries. The narrative also paints the backdrop of recovery and renewal, in the voices of survivors, telegraphers, aid workers, and historical figures such as Clara Barton. Watermark is a lyric narrative of this country’s largest and most dramatic flood of the 19th century, told from the perspective of those whose lives it ...