Ohio Poetry Association Blog

Thanks to everyone who submitted poems in response to our recent Poetry for America 250 prompts! We have compiled the submissions into a digital anthology that will live on our website, along with other free poetry portal resources, at  www.ohiopoetryassn.org/poetryforamerica250 . Contributors include Doc Janning, Linda Brown, Alexis ThePoet Jackson, Michelle Tackla Wallace, Harry S. Stoughton, Cathryn Essinger, Holly Brians Ragusa, Benjamin Baughman, David Lee Garrison, John Burroughs, and Justice Hill. Special thanks to Julie Klear for her work on this project. 

In the spring and fall, Ohio Poetry Association sponsors a poetry retreat at Malabar Farm , in Lucas, Ohio. Participants stay at the hostel on the property, a wonderful old farm house managed by OPA member, Mark Sebastian Jordan. The retreats are now in their fifth year. It’s a time of writing, reflection in a peaceful pastoral setting, and reconnecting with other OPA members who share a passion for poetry. During each retreat a workshop leader directs the group in Friday evening and Saturday morning sessions on a specific topic with prompts. Individuals who want to, read their drafts and ideas. The group enjoys an evening potluck meal together and a scrumptious breakfast prepared by OPA Treasurer, Rinda Sansom in the large farm house kitchen. After the evening session, many gather in the basement living area to share poems in a round-robin fashion that can go late into the night. It’s nothing short of 18-20 hours of artistic bliss with poetry comrades in an idyllic setting. ...

An Announcement from Ohio Poetry Day 2014: The 2014 Ohio Co-Poets of the Year, Dzvinia Orlowsky , (of Marshfield, Massachusetts) and David Lee Garrison (of Dayton, Ohio) have been named by the Ohio Poetry Day Association. This award has been given annually since 1976 to a poet or poets on the basis of a book published in the previous year or two years.   The award consists of a money prize, an honorarium as speaker, and a plaque commemorating the event.   In addition, a poem by each poet will be included at the beginning of the Ohio Poetry Day 2014 prize poems collection, Best of 2014 . For 2014, Orlowsky's collection is Silvertone and Garrison's is Playing Bach in the D.C. Metro .   The winners are invited to speak and to read from their work at Ohio Poetry Day, which will be observed on October 24 - 25 at the Troy-Hayner Cultural Center in Troy, Ohio.