What we’re about
The Salem Poetry Project continues at the Bush Barn Annex, 600 Mission St SE, Salem. Parking for the Bush Barn and Bush House is located off of High Street and the Annex entrance is just to the left of the main entrance.
The Salem-Poetry Project is open to all poets. Please see event calendar.
Upcoming events
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Salem Poetry Project at Marco Polo Featuring Paulann Petersen
Marco Polo Global Restaurant, 300 Liberty St. SE, Salem, OR, USPaulann Petersen, Oregon Poet Laureate Emerita, has eight full-length books of poetry, most recently My Kindred from Salmon Poetry of Ireland. A former Stegner Fellow at Stanford University, she’s the recipient of the Holbrook Award from Literary Arts. Willamette Writers honored her with a Distinguished Northwest Writer Award.
For the months of November through February the Salem Poetry Project will meet at Marco Polo Global Restaurant. The restaurant’s address is 300 Liberty St SE, Salem and the reading will be in the banquet room.
Each week the Salem Poetry Project presents a featured reader followed by the Infamous Open Mic: three poems or five minutes whichever is first. Featured reader begins at 7:00 and the open mic will directly follow. For more information contact Marc Janssen at mrcjanssen@msn.com.3 attendees
Salem Poetry Project Featuring Flight and Metamorphosis and All of Us or None
Marco Polo Global Restaurant, 300 Liberty St. SE, Salem, OR, USThis evening will have readings by two poets in exile. “Flight and Metamorphosis” marks the culmination of Nelly Sachs’s development as a poet. Sachs, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1966, speaks from her own condition as a refugee from Nazi Germany. Berthold Brecht wrote a number of poems about life in Germany under Nazi control including “What the Leader Does Not Know,” “The Book Burning,” “The Neighbor“ and “All of Us or None.” These poems will be read by four local poets.
Dramatist and poet Nelly Sachs was born into a Jewish family in Berlin in 1891. Her father was a manufacturer, and the family lived a comfortable, middle-class life. Sachs studied dance and literature and began writing when she was an adolescent. During that time, she also began corresponding with the Swedish writer Selma Lagerlöf, a contact who would later help her escape Nazi Germany.
Bertolt Brecht was one of the most influential playwrights of the 20th century. Brecht was born in Augsburg, Bavaria, in 1898, and the two world wars directly affected his life and works. His plays were banned in Germany in the 1930s, and in 1933, he went into exile finally ending up in Santa Monica, California. In 1941, hoping to write for Hollywood, but he drew the attention of the House Un-American Activities Committee. Although he managed to deflect accusations of being a Communist, he moved to Switzerland after the hearings.
For the months of November through February the Salem Poetry Project will meet at Marco Polo Global Restaurant. The restaurant’s address is 300 Liberty St SE, Salem and the reading will be in the banquet room.
Each week the Salem Poetry Project presents a featured reader followed by the Infamous Open Mic: three poems or five minutes whichever is first. Featured reader begins at 7:00 and the open mic will directly follow. For more information contact Marc Janssen at mrcjanssen@msn.com.1 attendee
Salem Poetry Project Featuring David Mehler
Marco Polo Global Restaurant, 300 Liberty St. SE, Salem, OR, USDavid Mehler studied literature at University of California, Santa Barbara, and currently lives in McMinnville, Oregon. He is the editor of the online literary journal, Triggerfish Critical Review. His chapbook, God Truck Nature appeared in the chapbook anthology, Burning Gorgeous: Seven 21st Century Poets, edited by Pamela O’Shaughnessy. He served as an administrator at the popular online global forum/workshop, The Critical Poet. More recently he served on the board of the Oregon Poetry Association. His first full-length collection of poetry, Roadworthy, was published by Aubade Publishing near the end of 2020. Bad Is Bent Good, a collection of mostly prose poems was published by Aubade in 2025. He is currently at work on a manuscript of love poems titled Cloud Street and continues to work as a driver at a landfill near Portland.
For the months of November through February the Salem Poetry Project will meet at Marco Polo Global Restaurant. The restaurant’s address is 300 Liberty St SE, Salem and the reading will be in the banquet room.
Each week the Salem Poetry Project presents a featured reader followed by the Infamous Open Mic: three poems or five minutes whichever is first. Featured reader begins at 7:00 and the open mic will directly follow. For more information contact Marc Janssen at mrcjanssen@msn.com.2 attendees
Salem Poetry Project Featuring Colette Tennant
Marco Polo Global Restaurant, 300 Liberty St. SE, Salem, OR, USColette Tennant has three books of poetry: Commotion of Wings, Eden and After, and Sweet Gothic. Her book, Religion in The Handmaid’s Tale: a Brief Guide, was published in 2019 to coincide with Atwood’s publication of The Testaments. Her poems have won various awards and have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes along with being published in various journals, including Prairie Schooner, Rattle, Southern Poetry Review, and Poetry Ireland Review. Colette is an English and Humanities Professor who has also taught art in Great Britain, Germany, and Italy.
For the months of November through February the Salem Poetry Project will meet at Marco Polo Global Restaurant. The restaurant’s address is 300 Liberty St SE, Salem and the reading will be in the banquet room.
Each week the Salem Poetry Project presents a featured reader followed by the Infamous Open Mic: three poems or five minutes whichever is first. Featured reader begins at 7:00 and the open mic will directly follow. For more information contact Marc Janssen at mrcjanssen@msn.com.3 attendees
Past events
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