Damn! Is that a poetry book?
The eye-catching and pearl-clutch-inducing title of Red Dirt Poetry’s first anthology comes from a familiar refrain at its Wednesday Open Mic Night. Audience members are encouraged, if the words they hear move them to do so, to release a loud and uproarious, “Damn!” The collection of poems from 31 poets in the Red Dirt Poetry community can be found in Second Story Books (718 Culbertson Drive), Literati Press (3022 Paseo), The Floating Bookshop (3 NW Ninth St.) and Bookish (1005 NW 36th St.) in Oklahoma City.
“I like to say ‘all the cool local bookstores,’” said Yoko Hill, departing Red Dirt Poetry chairperson.
Red Dirt Poetry has existed in some form or another since at least the 1990s. Hill has seen the community go through a few identity changes since she became active in the Oklahoma City poetry community. When she first started attending, the group was known as Metro Poets, then later The Home for Wayward Poets, then around 2010, the group rebranded as Red Dirt Poetry.
Red Dirties, a self-styled nickname for those active in the community, talked about putting together a published anthology for years. After Hill took over as Red Dirt Poetry’s board chairperson, she made the anthology a priority.
“I really like the idea of having a thing you can look back on and be like, ‘In 2024 at Red Dirt Poetry, these are some poets you could find,’” Hill said.
All hands on deck
In 2023, Hill recruited Kara Bullen to fill the newly created Director of Publishing role with two very specific goals in mind. The first was the creation of Red Dirt Edits, a peer editing session held the first Saturday of every month at 1 p.m. at Second Story Books. Poets bring six copies of a poem and a healthy appreciation for constructive feedback. The second was the anthology, and though Bullen had no experience with publishing, she agreed.
“People do stuff they don’t know how to do all the time,” Bullen said. “It really was just a matter of, ‘We’ll just figure this out together,’ and we did.”
Bullen and Hill didn’t tackle the anthology alone. The concentrated effort of several members of the Red Dirt Poetry community is what finally brought the compilation to life.
“Each person had their own delegated tasks according to that project, and everyone did a fantastic job,” Bullen said. “Matt Raney has experience with layout and editing, so he took that on. Rob Sturma does have experience with publishing, so he took that on and was talking to publishers; everyone had their own little things, and it worked out fabulously.”
The production of Damn! provided many learning opportunities. Incoming Red Dirt Poetry chairperson Rachel Waters appreciated the time and challenges it took to create the final product.
“It came together really beautifully, and it’s something we’re really proud of,” Waters said. “You can’t ultimately rush the good stuff sometimes.”
As a community that does not collect dues from its artists, the funding of the anthology also came as a challenge.
“It’s expensive to publish a run that you feel good about and looks nice and doesn’t feel like it came from a FedEx that someone stapled together,” Hill said.
Fortunately, support for the anthology was bountiful and the group was able to fully fund the anthology in 48 hours of its fundraising kickoff event.
“Our initial fundraiser was in July. We started it on a Saturday, and by the end of that Sunday, we had completely funded the project,” Hill said.
“Our hearts are so full; our minds were so blown. We couldn’t believe it,” Bullen said.
Since the book’s release, Red Dirt Poetry has raised 70 percent of the funding for the next anthology.
“We’re on track for this to fully fund itself continually,” Waters said, “Each anthology, when we sell it, it just goes back into the next anthology.”
Red Dirt voices
With a large community, deciding who to include in the book took careful consideration.
“One of the only stipulations was that we wanted this to be the voices of Red Dirt Poetry. So it really is the people who have been consistently showing up,” Bullen said. “We didn’t plan on turning anyone away completely unless it didn’t fall under the traditional Red Dirt Poetry rules.”
Red Dirt Poetry’s Discord server spells out specific rules, including that no money will ever be taken from artists to participate, the group is not in competition with any other poetry group and an emphasis on inclusion.
“We do not tolerate racism, anti-2SLGBTQIA+ sentiments, ableism, or sexism. We are willing to have conversations, help educate, and connect people who want to grow with resources but at the end of the day if you are harmful to our audience you will lose the privilege of having it,” the rule states on Discord.
Focusing on inclusion and community and fostering self-growth has kept Red Dirties coming back for years.
“I have made friends that I would have never made anywhere else. Friends with people who are much older than me, friends with people who are different religions, different races,” Hill said. “There are elderly gentlemen who I hear their weird perspectives that I would never have heard anywhere else.”
“We write differently. We come from different backgrounds,” Waters said. “No one’s story is the same, but we found common ground in the ‘why,’ I feel like.”
Community collaborations
Red Dirt Poetry hosts a weekly open mic night at 7 p.m. every Wednesday at Literati Press. While poetry is the main focus, artists of all kinds and skill levels are welcome. Hill has advice for those feeling trepidation about beginning their poetry journey.
“It’s like any other craft. When you learn to play an instrument, you learn to play ‘Row Row Row Your Boat’ and you learn to play ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’ and you don’t expect for the first songs you learn to be Beethoven,” Hill said. “But that’s kind of the art of it. We all start at that same place, and then how you take that craft and have that conversation with that craft becomes what kind of poet you are.”
If you still aren’t sure where to start, try attending the Red Dirt Writes writing workshop at 7 p.m. on the third Thursday of every month at Literati Press. This free event features a new guest leader each month to help you start the words flowing. Bring a pen and paper.
If taking in words is more your speed, Red Dirt Reads, a poetry book club, could be a good fit for you. The book club meets at 1 p.m. on the fourth Saturday of every month at The Floating Bookshop.
In addition to the weekly and monthly events, a new Red Dirt Poetry showcase as part of the Paseo District’s First Fridays hosted at Oklahoma Shakespeare is starting on a trial basis in March with a variety showcase of many of the Red Dirties, including poets, musicians and comedians as well as typewriter poets available for your on-the-spot poetry needs. April’s showcase will be more theme-focused.
“April, which is both National Poetry Month and the month of Shakespeare’s birthday, we’re going to be doing some sort of Shakespearean Slam event,” Waters said. “More info to come.”
Looking ahead, Waters has modest goals for Red Dirt Poetry.
“My goal as current chairperson is to grow our community in terms of our love for one another,” Waters said. “I don’t necessarily care about size, but I want people to feel connected to one another and keep honing in on our poetry.”
This article appears in Alcoholmanac 2025.