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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Creativity: What If You Sleep On It?

By Willingham | March 6, 2017

The nature of my work is such that I spend a good deal of time on the road. Not just traveling, say to spend a few days at a conference or in meetings, but actually on the road, driving from here to there to investigate an accident scene or inspect a home damaged by fire […]

March Happenings

By sdpoetry | February 27, 2017

  March is here, and that means spring is just around the corner. Let the lengthening days and fresh outside air reinvigorate your senses and creativity. And get out there and explore these events of interest to poets, readers and writers coming up in the next month or two: February 27 A Reader Writes What: Pen […]

An Interview with South Dakota Poet Laureate Lee Ann Roripaugh

By sdpoetry | February 20, 2017

Conducted by Linda Russo: In April of last year, I had the pleasure of being introduced to the work and person of Lee Ann Roripaugh. We were reading our poetry as participants in “Poetry of the Plains, High Desert, and Prairie,” a panel at the AWP conference in Minneapolis. Lee was seated to my right, […]

SDSPS: Changing with the Times

By sdpoetry | February 14, 2017

“The times they are a changin’” sang Bob Dylan, and South Dakota State Poetry Society (SDSPS) has managed to change and survive with the times for nearly 90 years. SDSPS was founded in 1927 by Dr. James C. Lindberg and Northern State College, and the inaugural issue of Pasque Petals was published the same year. Vol. […]

Poetry and Medicine

By Brad | February 6, 2017

People live their lives (doctors being no exception) as if death does not perhaps wait just around the next corner, like a dread murderer lurking behind a tree on a mountain trail. It seems fictive even to describe it — though I have had very real conversations with such murderers (usually in jail cells). People do […]

February Happenings

By Willingham | January 25, 2017

Enjoy the February thaw by taking part in poetry, art and literary happenings around the state. Here are a few things coming up this month that we know about: January 28 Long Live the Ladies’ Man What: An evening celebrating the music and poetry of Leonard Cohen (Famous for “Hallelujah,” “Death of a Ladies’ Man,” […]

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