Oregon Poet Laureate .com
History and Essays on this important position.
Current Laureate:
Kim StaffordStart of Term
May 15, 2018Position History:
Position established by the governor, April 23, 1923; adopted by Legislature in 1989 (Laws, 1989, Chap. 122, Sec. 1,2,3; Statutes, 1994 Supplement, Sec. 357.925). First laureate was Edwin Markham. The position began as a lifetime appointment, and remained such until William Stafford's tenure ended in August 1989.In 2006, funds from the Oregon Cultural Trust "supported the reinstatement of Oregon’s poet laureate . . . and each laureate’s outreach as an ambassador of poetry across the state." The position was changed from a lifetime appointment to a two-year appointment, renewal for a second two-year term. Lawson Inada was the first Oregon Poet Laureate appointed under the new term limits.Previous Laureates:
Edwin Markham (April 23, 1923-1931)
Ben Hur Lampman (February 20, 1951-1954)
Ethel Romig Fuller (1957-1965)
William Stafford (October 1975-August 1989)
Lawson Fusao Inada (February 17, 2006-2010)
Paulann Petersen (April 26, 2010-April 24, 2014)
Peter Sears (April 25, 2014-April 26, 2016)
Elizabeth Woody (April 27, 2016-May 14, 2018)
Greetings fellow Oregon poets!
As an Oregon poet, myself for more than 40 years, I have had the privilege to know many of Oregon's finest poets. Perhaps the highlight of my poetry career came in the early 80's when I shared a book table with none other than William Stafford himself! That was during a Spring conference of the Oregon Poetry Association in Portland.Following the passing of William Stafford, Oregon was without a State Poet Laureate for many years. Several times, I launched letter writing campaigns to members of the Oregon Legislature, urging the position be filled. I also wrote to newspapers and anyone else that I thought might listen. I called my efforts 'The Charge of the Light Brigade'. I was always thrown back in complete defeat after at best a small amount of interest.And two years later the members of the Legislature would meet again. And again I would launch a new letter writing campaign urging an Oregon Poet Laureate be appointed. And again... with the same result! But the 'charge of the Light Brigade was always courageous and well intention despite ending once again in predicable failure.And then one day as I was charging boldly once again, something surprising happened. Members of the Legislature took a sudden very serious look at the issue and the press began to also push the idea. And then it happened! A wonderful Oregon poet from Southern Oregon, Lawson Fusao Inada was appointed Oregon Poet Laureate on April 27th, 2006. After so many years of failure on my part, it seemed the 'charge of the Light Brigade' was not in vain. And no, I did not expect to ever be given credit for my years of effort. That is not what I did it for and it is not how things work.Steven Robert Heine.
About the author: Steven Robert Heine is a West Coast poet. He has spent his life writing poetry and promoting the reading of it. In 2011 Heine was seriously crippled in a fall. Several surgeries later, Heine lives with a great deal of pain. (He is not on any disability). He tries to provide this site as a service to the poets of Vermont.