Red Dirt Poetry is a grassroots organization dedicated to uplifting Oklahoma poets through education, community, and creative expression. Founded in the 1990s, it has grown and evolved alongside the state’s literary scene, collaborating with Literati Press and championing local voices. With a passion for raw, honest storytelling, Red Dirt Poetry creates a welcoming space where artists can share their truths, refine their craft, and leave a lasting impact on their communities.

Hang Out With Poets

Latest Grams

Happy New Year! ✨ Here’s an idea for a “New Year’s Resolution”: finish and polish every poem you believe in. 📝 We struggle with this too, so we’re here to help. 🙏🏼 Come to the first Edits of 2026 this Saturday, January 3 from 1-3PM. Bring 6 copies of a draft poem to Second Story Books, and we’ll resolve to give you the best feedback we can. 💪 If you don’t have access to a printer 🖨️, DM @shmemkat on IG; she’s got you covered.

Please consider donating funds to the Regional Food Bank on behalf of Red Dirt Poetry. Link in bio. 💚🩵💙

Please drop off any non perishable food donations at Literati Press on or before December 17!

This month’s Red Dirt Writes takes place on Tuesday, December 16, at 7:00 p.m. at Literati Press in the Paseo. Tobias Wray will lead a writing workshop on break-up poetry. Bring your notebook and favorite writing utensil. 📓

Ex Grief: Writing and Loving the Break-up Poem 💔

Our generative writing workshop will explore how to write about love in the rearview. We have all felt our affections shift at one time or another. These transitions can be both some of our darkest hours, but they can also afford us sighs of relief. Poetry as an artform helps us hold up a mirror to human experience, whose image sometimes poorly resembles what we expect to see—but like a bad ex, can still manage to teach us something about ourselves. We’ll read poems by Rick Barot, Timothy Liu, Natalie Diaz, and more, and we’ll write a couple poems in return. 🪞

Tobias Wray’s poetry collection, No Doubt I Will Return a Different Man, won the Lighthouse Poetry Series Competition. His poems have found homes in Poem-a-Day, Poetry Daily, The Georgia Review, and Queer Nature: A Poetry Anthology (Autumn House Press). Most recently, he was awarded a National Endowment of the Arts fellowship in support of new projects, including a manuscript on grief called Daddy Essay. He currently serves as director of the Creative Writing programs at the University of Central Oklahoma. Reach him at www.tobiaswray.com. 📝