Skip to main content

Bibliography is Great Resource for Teaching Poetry to Young Writers


The deadline for the OPA Student Poetry Contests is just over a month away—January 15, 2016—and we hope our members and non-members will encourage their teenage children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and any high-school students in their lives to submit their poems to this free contest. But perhaps you’re unsure of how to get started.

Thanks to OPA members Sandy Feen and Rikki Santer, we can offer an annotated bibliography of some of their terrific books for inspiring the writing of poetry. If you know Sandy and Rikki, or have heard them read their work at any number of poetry venues and open-mics, then you know that they’re wonderful poets.

Both are also public high school teachers and creative writing instructors who are dedicated to the teaching of poetry in their own classrooms. And they’ve assembled the following annotated bibliography to aid others—such as teachers, parents, mentors—in working with young poets in creating their own poems.

We think you’ll find the bibliography to be an invaluable resource. Click here to download the bibliography [pdf].

For complete details on the student contests, click here. If you are interested in a poetry workshop geared for teachers of writing, please contact OPA for scheduling; email us at team@ohiopoetryassn.org.

Many thanks to Rikki and Sandy for taking the time to compile and share the bibliography.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

CREATING POETRY CHAPBOOKS

Adapted from a workshop delivered for the AOCI W.R.I.T.E.R.S. Group by Chris Minton What is a chapbook? Chapbooks were originally known as "street literature" because they were primarily sold on the streets by traveling salesmen known as chapmen. These small, inexpensive booklets contained a variety of content like ballads, folk tales, and religious tracts, and were a popular form of reading material for the common people, particularly those with limited access to more expensive books (for example, in rural areas). Today, chapbooks are normally used by poets to accomplish a specific objective, which may include: To create a sample of their work for publishers or other parties To target a specific, interested audience To get their work into circulation quickly To make it more affordable (for both the author and reader) To create enough work over time to warrant a full-length collection To demonstrate their commitment to the craft To give as gifts to family and friends Features of...

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...

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...