WELCOME TO SOUTH DAKOTA STATE POETRY SOCIETY

To encourage poem-making and
poem-reading in South Dakota.

  • South Dakota
SDSPS was organized in 1927 and incorporated as a South Dakota non-profit on August 8, 1970.

Our Mission

To encourage and foster the writing and publication of poetry by South Dakota writers and to promote excellence therein; to arouse in students of high school and college age, interest in the creative writing of poetry; to foster or publish Pasque Petals, a magazine, on a regular basis, thereby continuing the publication which was begun before the Society was organized, which publication is devoted chiefly to poetry, to stimulate by such proper means as the sponsoring of contests, awarding of prizes, and by other means of encouragement, the writing of poetry; and by these means to aid in the cultural growth of South Dakota.

SDSPS acknowledges that we share the traditional lands of the Oceti Sakowin, or Seven Council Fires nations, the proper name for the tribes of the Santee-Dakota, Yankton-Nakota, and Teton-Lakota people, referred to collectively as the Sioux.

fountain pen, notebook, paper

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Why I Belong to SDSPS

By sdpoetry | April 4, 2023

By: Holly Moseley I first joined SDSPS when I moved to South Dakota in 1987. This history amazes me somewhat, because I’m not sure I thought of myself as a poet way back then, even though I’d had a piece accepted for my high school collection. Perhaps someone at the writers’ group in Sioux Falls […]

Winning Portrait Poems FA22

By sdpoetry | February 27, 2023

Thank you so much to everyone who entered our annual poetry contest. This year Dana Yost judged the landscape category, and Lee Ann Roripaugh judged the portrait category. Please enjoy this year’s winning poems 🙂 First Place FORBEARANCE By Cameron Brooks Wind—unlike the likely droughts and stubbled summer lawn, or the cicadas’ tymbal cry; unlike […]

Winning Landscape Poems FA22 Contest

By sdpoetry | February 20, 2023

Thank you so much to everyone who entered our annual poetry contest. This year Dana Yost judged the landscape category, and Lee Ann Roripaugh judged the portrait category. Please enjoy this year’s winning poems 🙂 First Place Sudden Weather By Todd Williams Maybe we were never closer than when buried in the basement beneath mounds […]

Louine Schaufler Youth Poem Contest High School Winners

By sdpoetry | February 13, 2023

The High School Contest was judged by John S. Nelson, PhD, English Professor Emeritus, Dakota State University. He observed: It’s been a delight to see the poems from high-schoolers across South Dakota and see that there are young people who see the value in using language to create a worthwhile experience for their readers.  I […]

Louine Schaufler Youth Contest Middle School Winners

By sdpoetry | February 6, 2023

The Louine Schaufler Youth Poetry Contest was established to encourage poem-making from South Dakota students. The contest is open to middle school and high school students across the state. The 2022 Contest had 16 middle school entries and 42 high school entries. The middle school contest was judged by Marcelle Remund who is from South […]

David Allan Evans Podcast

By sdpoetry | January 26, 2023

Welcome to Off The Bricks, poets and poetry lovers! Today’s program features David Allan Evans, the former Poet Laureate of South Dakota. David is a longtime, stalwart voice of midwestern poetry. David shares poems that trace his writing from his earliest work about sports through his experiences with Asian poetry teaching in China to ekphrastic collaborations with a […]

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