In celebration of Oregon’s sesquicentennial anniversary, Poetry Northwest and the Oregon State Library are announcing your nominated list of 150 outstanding Oregon poetry books — one for each year of statehood. The Oregon Poetry 150 books range in style and subject matter, and include poets both well-known and newly emerging — and this grass-roots list has been entirely created by poetry readers from throughout the state.
Author |
Title |
Publishing Information |
*Multiple Authors |
Fierce Brightness: 25 Years of Women’s Poetry |
Calyx Press, 2000 |
*Multiple Authors |
Raising Our Voices: An Anthology of Oregon Poets Against the War |
Habit of Rainy Nights Press, 2003 |
*Multiple Authors |
From Here We Speak: An Anthology of Oregon Poetry |
Oregon State University Press, 1994 |
*Multiple Authors |
Deer Drink the Moon: Poems of Oregon |
Ooligan Press, 2007 |
Alexie, Sherman |
The Summer of Black Widows |
Hanging Loose Press, 1996 |
Ande, Jan Lee |
Reliquary |
Texas Review Press, 2003 |
Andrews, Ginger |
Hurricane Sisters |
Story Line Press, 2004 |
Averill, Diane |
For All That Remains |
Fir Tree Press, 2008 |
Averill, Diane |
Beautiful Obstacles |
Blue Light Press of Iowa, 1999 |
Bailey, Jane |
The Fine Art of Postponement |
National Federation of State Poetry Societies Press, 2002 |
Bakken, Dick |
Dick Bakken: Greatest Hits |
Pudding House Publications, 2005 |
Barnard, Mary |
Collected Poems |
Breitenbush Publications, 1979 |
Barrington, Judith |
Horses and the Human Soul |
Story Line Press, 2004 |
Barrington, Judith |
History and Geography |
The Eighth Mountain Press 1989 |
Biespiel, David |
Wild Civility |
University of Washington Press, 2003 |
Biespiel, David |
The Book of Men and Women |
University of Washington Press, 2009 |
Braucher, Karen |
Sending Messages Over Inconceivable Distances |
The Bacchae Press, 2000 |
Bremer, Tom |
Just Once |
Lynx House Press, 2001 |
Broumas, Olga |
Beginning With O |
Yale University Press, 1977 |
Carlile, Henry |
Rain |
Carnegie Mellon University Press, 1994 |
Carlile, Henry |
Running Lights |
Dragon Gate, 1981 |
Carver, Raymond |
All Of Us: Collected Poems |
Knopf, 2000 |
Chin, Marilyn |
Rhapsody in Plain Yellow |
W.W. Norton & Co., 2002 |
Costanzo, Gerald |
Nobody Lives on Arther Godfrey Boulevard |
BOA Editions, 1992 |
Crawford, Tom |
Lauds |
Cedar House Books, 1993 |
Crawford, Tom |
If It Weren’t for Trees |
Lynx House Press, 1987 |
Curran, Michael Patrick |
Songs from the Evening Land |
Vespertine Independent Press, 2001 |
Currin, Jen |
Hagiography |
Coach House Books, 2008 |
Curtis, Walt |
Rhymes for Alice Bluelight |
Eastern Washington University Press, 1984 |
Daniel, John |
Common Ground |
Confluence Press, 1988 |
Dankleff, Richard |
Westerns |
OSU Press, 1984 |
DeFrees, Madeline |
Blue Dusk |
Copper Canyon, 2001 |
DeFrees, Madeline |
Spectral Waves |
Copper Canyon, 2006 |
Derry, Alice |
Stages of Twilight |
Breitenbush, 1986 |
Derry, Alice |
Strangers to Their Courage |
Louisiana University Press, 2001 |
Dickman, Matthew |
All-American Poem |
American Poetry Review, 2008 |
Dickman, Michael |
The End of the West |
Copper Canyon, 2009 |
Doubiago, Sharon |
Hard Country |
West End Press, 1982 |
Drake, Barbara |
Bees in Wet Weather |
Canoe Press, 1992 |
Drake, Barbara |
What We Say to Strangers |
Breitenbush Books, 1986 |
Edmo, Ed |
These Few Words of Mine |
Blue Cloud Quarterly Press, 1985 |
Euwer, Anthony |
Rhymes of Our Valley |
James P Bond New York, 1916 |
Favilla, Candice |
Cups |
University of Georgia Press, 1992 |
Favilla, Candice |
Things That Ease Despair |
Custom Words, 2005 |
Fleming, Geranna |
Starting With Coquille: Poems |
Prescott Street Press, 1978 |
Fleming, James |
You Wouldn’t Know Us |
Press-22, 1975 |
Gale, Vi |
Clearwater |
Swallow Press, 1974 |
Gale, Vi |
Odd Flowers and Short-Eared Owls |
Prescott Street Press, 1984 |
Glazer, Jane |
Some Trick of Light |
Adrienne Lee Press, 1993 |
Glazer, Michele |
Aggregate of Disturbances |
University of Iowa Press, 2004 |
Glazer, Michele |
It Is Hard to Look at What We Came to Think We’d Come to See |
University of Pittsburg Press, 1999 |
Goodrich, Charles |
Insects of South Corvallis |
Cloudbank Books, 2003 |
Grabill, James |
An Indigo Scent After the Rain |
Lynx House Press, 2003 |
Grabill, James |
Poem Rising Out of the Earth |
Lynx House Press, 1994 |
Gray, Kate |
Another Sunset We Survive |
Cedar House Books, 2007 |
Haislip, John |
Seal Rock |
Barnwood Press, 1986 |
Hall, Hazel |
The Collected Poems of Hazel Hall |
Oregon State University Press, 2000 |
Halme, Kathleen |
Drift & Pulse |
Carnege-Mellon University Press, 2007 |
Hanson, Kenneth |
The Uncorrected World |
Wesleyan Univ. Press, 1973 |
Hanson, Kenneth |
The Distance Anywhere |
Univ. of Washington Press, 1967 |
Harp, Jerry |
Urban Flowers, Concrete Plains |
Salt Publishing, 2006 |
Henderson, Donna |
The Eddy Fence |
Airlie Press, 2009 |
Holmberg, Karen |
The Perseids |
University of North Texas Press, 2001 |
Hongo, Garrett |
The River of Heaven |
Knopf, 1988 |
Howell, Christopher |
Light’s Ladder |
Univ. of Washington, 2004 |
Hughes, Henry |
Men Holding Eggs |
Mammoth Books, 2004 |
Hummer, TR |
Walt Whitman in Hell |
Louisiana University Press, 1996 |
Inada, Lawson |
Legends From Camp |
Coffee House Press, 1983 |
Kaplan, Dan |
Bill’s Formal Complaint |
The National Poetry Review Press, 2008 |
Killean, Ger |
Signs Following |
Parlor Press, 2005 |
Koglin, Oz Hopkins |
Gardens for Everyone |
Self-Published, 2008 |
Kwang, Casey |
Copia |
Pinball Publishing, 2002 |
Kwang, Casey |
On Blue Felix Paper |
Wellstone Press, 1999 |
Lamb, Jessica |
Last Apples of Late Empires |
Airlie Press, 2009 |
Lark, Gary |
Men at the Gates |
Finishing Line Press, 2007 |
Laux, Dorianne |
Facts About the Moon |
W.W. Norton, 2007 |
Le Guin, Ursula K. |
Going Out with Peacocks |
Harper Collins, 1994 |
Marx, Doug |
Sufficiency |
PUBLICATION INFO, 1994 |
McBridge, Dennis |
Killing the Mockingbird |
Quiet Lion Press, 2000 |
McGriff, Michael |
Dismantling the Hills |
University of Pittsburgh Press, 2008 |
McPherson, Sandra |
The Year of Our Birth |
Ecco Press, 1978 |
Miranda, Gary |
Listeners in the Breathing Place |
Princeton Contemporary Poets Series, 1978 |
Memmott, David |
The Larger Earth |
Permeable Press, 1996 |
Merchant, Paul |
Some Business of Affinity |
Five Seasons Press, 2006 |
Millar, Joseph |
Overtime |
Eastern Washington University Press, 2001 |
Millar, Joseph |
Fortune |
Eastern Washington University Press, 2007 |
Montgomery, Judith |
Passion |
Defined Providence Press, 1999 |
Montoya, Andrés |
The Iceworker Sings |
Bilingual Press, 1999 |
Nettlebeck, F.A. |
Bug Death |
Alcatraz Editions, 1979 |
Norlen, Sherron |
Entomologist’s Dreambook |
Protean Press, 1998 |
Orr, Verlena |
Break in the Cloud Cover |
Howlett Press, 2005 |
Pavlich, Walter |
Theories of Birds and Water |
Owl Creek Press, 1990 |
Petersen, Paulann |
Bride of Narrow Escape |
Cloudbank Books, 2006 |
Petersen, Paulann |
Kindle |
Mountains & Rivers Press, 2008 |
Prelutsky, Jack |
The Frogs Wore Red Suspenders |
HarperCollins, 2005 |
Rafael, Dan |
Molecular Jam |
Jazz Police Books, 1996 |
Ramsey, Jarold |
Love in an Earthquake |
University of Washington Press, 1973 |
Reyes, Carlos |
Suitcase Full of Crows |
Bluestem Press, 1995 |
Reyes, Carlos |
At the Edge of the Western Wave |
Lost Horse Press, 2004 |
Root, Judith |
Weaving the Sheets |
Carnegie Mellon University Press, 1988 |
Runciman, Lex |
The Admirations |
Lynx House Press, 2006 |
Runciman, Lex |
Out of Town |
Cloudbank Books, 2004 |
Rutsala, Vern |
Selected Poems |
Story Line Press, 1991 |
Rutsala, Vern |
The Moment’s Equation |
Ashland Poetry Press, 2004 |
Salisbury, Ralph |
War in the Genes |
Cherry Grove, 2006 |
Scambly Schott, Penelope |
A Is for Anne: Mistress Hutchinson Disturbs the Commonwealth |
Turning Point, 2007 |
Scates, Maxine |
Toluca Street |
Pittsburgh, 1989 |
Scates, Maxine |
Black Loam |
WordTech Communications, 2005 |
Sears, Peter |
Tour: New and Collected Poems |
Breitenbush Books, 1987 |
Sears, Peter |
The Brink |
Gibbs Smith, 2000 |
Selker, Michael |
Crazies’ Bus Stop |
Pudding House Publications, 2007 |
Shaw, BT |
This Dirty Little Heart |
Eastern Washington University Press, 2008 |
Shugrue, Jim |
Small Things Screaming |
26 Books, 1995 |
Siegel, Scot |
Some Weather |
Plain View Press, 2008 |
Siverly, Bill |
The Turn |
Windfall Press, 2000 |
Skach-Mills, David |
The Tao of Now |
KenArnoldBooks, 2008 |
Skloot, Floyd |
The Evening Light |
Story Line Press, 2001 |
Skloot, Floyd |
Approximately Paradise |
Tupelo Press, 2005 |
Smario, Tom |
Notes of a Cornerman |
Peninhand Press, 2000 |
Snyder, Gary |
Dangers on Peaks |
Shoemaker Hoard, 2004 |
Spring, Michael |
Mudsong |
Pygmy Forest Press, 2005 |
St. John, Primus |
Dreamer |
Carnegie Publishing, 1990 |
St. John, Primus |
Communion |
Copper Canyon Press, 1999 |
Stafford, Kim |
A Thousand Friends of Rain: New & Selected Poems |
Carnegie-Mellon University Press, 1999 |
Stafford, William |
Traveling Through the Dark |
Harper & Row, 1962 |
Starck, Clemens |
China Basin |
Story Line Press, 2001 |
Starck, Clemens |
Journeyman’s Wages |
Story Line Press, 1995 |
Stark, Clemens |
Studying Russian on Company Time |
Silverfish Review Press, 1995 |
Steinman, Lisa |
All That Comes to Light |
Arrowood Books, 1989 |
Steinman, Lisa |
Carslaw’s Sequences |
University of Tampa Press, 2003 |
Stone, Sandra |
Cocktails with Brueghel at the Museum Café |
Cleveland State University Poetry Center, 1997 |
Szybist, Mary |
Granted |
Alice James Books, 2003 |
Talney, Ron |
The Anxious Ground |
Press-22, 1974 |
Turner, Brian |
Here, Bullet |
Alice James Books, 2005 |
Venn, George |
West of Paradise |
Ice River Press, 1999 |
Waterston, Ellen |
Between Desert Seasons |
Wordcraft of Oregon, 2008 |
Wendt, Ingrid |
Singing the Mozart Requiem |
Far Corner Books, 1987 |
Willey, Dale H. |
The Tin Box Papers and Other Poems |
Oregon Sunrise Press, 2001 |
Williams, Crystal |
Kin |
Michigan State University Press, 2000 |
Williams, Crystal |
Lunatic |
Michigan State University Press, 2002 |
Williams, Sandra |
Detours |
Trask House, 1995 |
Winch, Carolyn |
High Desert Haiku |
Stumptown Printers, 2003 |
Winter, Laura |
Coming Here to Be Alone |
Mountains and Rivers Press, 2008 |
Witte, John |
The Hurtling |
Orchises Press, 2005 |
Witte, John |
Second Nature |
University of Washington Press, 2008 |
Wood, C.E.S. |
Collected Poems of Charles Erskine Wood, ed. Sara Bard Field |
Vanguard Press, 1949 |
Woody, Elizabeth |
Seven Hands, Seven Hearts |
The Eighth Mountain Press, 1994 |
Woody, Elizabeth |
Hand In Stone |
Contact II Publications, 1988 |
Yurdana, Matt |
Public Gestures |
University of Tampa Press, 2005 |