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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June Happenings

By Willingham | June 5, 2017

Check out poetry-related happenings around the state this month: June 24 Black Hills Indigenous Writers Festival What: Poets include Layli Long Soldier, Mary Black Bonnet, Mabel Picotte, Tom Swift Bird and Brandis Knudson. Mary Black Bonnet will also be giving writing workshops the Thursday and Friday before — check out the details on the flyer […]

Facing the Fears of Poem Making

By Jodilyn Andrews | May 29, 2017

I recently attended a panel of women artists at SDSU’s art museum. They discussed the difficulties in making art, and one of them said something that I found especially encouraging, which I will get to later. I have also recently been reading Art and Fear: Observations On the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking by David […]

My Dream Job

By RubyWilson | May 22, 2017

When I was a kid and people asked me, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I never really knew how to answer. It was the 1960’s and in spite of the Women’s Liberation Movement that was just starting to make the news, I thought that my options were: nurse, teacher, or […]

SD Poets You Should Know: Sara Henning

By Barbara Duffey | May 15, 2017

She’s not going to be a South Dakotan much longer, because she got a teaching gig in Texas, so I thought I’d give a shoutout to Sara Henning while she’s still our neighbor! I’m particularly fond of her poem “The Color of Ashes,” available at The Superstition Review: The Color of Ashes “We all live […]

30 Quick Writes

By Marilyn Kratz | May 8, 2017

November is NANOWRIMO (National Novel Writing Month). It began in 1999 as a way of encouraging authors to write a certain number of words on their novel every day. Undoubtedly, it has resulted in the publication of novels that would not have been written otherwise, and that’s a good thing. I adapted that idea to […]

Hope in a Cardboard Box: The Writing Practice

By Jodilyn Andrews | March 13, 2017

When I was younger, I only ever wrote when inspiration struck. I typically wrote poetry or song lyrics (song lyrics included a melody in my head and usually included more repetition and yeahs). My notebook would collect dust between emotional outpourings. And the first page often read something kind yet firm “If you are picking […]

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