April is, among many other things (including the occasional delivery of surprise snowstorms), National Poetry Month, a celebration brought to life in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets and carried out with rhythmic regularity every year since. The occasion has prompted Portland photographer K.B. Dixon, a frequent ArtsWatch contributor and a portraitist of note, to search his files for previously unpublished studio photos of ten distinguished Oregon contemporary poets. See them here, then follow the links to discover these writers’ poetry:
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Kim Stafford, 2019
Oregon’s Poet Laureate 2018-20, and founding director of the Northwest Writing Institute at Lewis &Clark College. His latest collection of poems is Singer Come From Afar.
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Susan Moore, 2022
Moore is a poet, editor, and Director of Programs for Writers at Literary Arts, and the winner of the Juniper Prize in Poetry for her full-length collection That Place Where You Opened Your Hands.
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Floyd Skloot, 2019
Poet, novelist, memoirist, and science writer. Far West is his latest book, and his ninth poetry collection.
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Samiya Bashir, 2019
Poet, professor, and founder of the advocacy group Fire & Ink. Her latest collection is Field Theories.
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David Biespiel, 2019
Poet, literary critic, memoirist, and founder of the Attic Institute of Arts and Letters. Republic Cafe is his latest book of poetry.
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Zachary Schomburg, 2019
Poet, novelist, illustrator, publisher and editor of Octopus Books. His latest book of poetry is Fjords Vol.2.
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Janice Lee, 2021
Essayist, poet, and novelist. Her newest collection, Separation Anxiety, will be published in August 2022.
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Don Colburn, 2021
Journalist and poet, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in feature writing. His latest book of poems is Mortality, with Pronoun Shifts.
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John Beer, 2021
An award-winning poet, Beer is the author of Lucinda and The Waste Land and Other Poems. He is the editor of Poems 1962–1997 by Robert Lax, a one-time theater critic, and the Director of Creative Writing at Portland State University.
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Anis Mojgani, 2019
Oregon’s current Poet Laureate; spoken-word artist, two-time National Poetry Slam Champion, winner of the International World Cup Poetry Slam. His latest book of poems is In the Pockets of Small Gods.
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