Our Mission

NDSPS is a nonprofit organization devoted to the furtherance of poetry. It is designed to foster literary, historical, and educational pursuits devoted to poetry. NDSPS seeks to affirm the value of poetry both in the public life of North Dakota and the personal life of its citizens. NDSPS’s Mission is to promote the creation and appreciation of poetry throughout the State. To that end, we strive to foster excellence in the writing of poetry and engender support and camaraderie among poets.

Our Sigil

The Western Meadowlark

The Western Meadowlark has been North Dakota’s state bird for nearly one-hundred years, and for even longer than that it has been the poet and minstrel of the northern prairies. Its duty of preserving and sharing beauty is now shared by the poets of North Dakota, which is why the Western Meadowlark was chosen to be our sigil. It offers us encouragement as we live our lives as well as a standard towards which we will always strive.

"One of our sweetest, loudest songsters is the meadow-lark...the plains air seems to give it a voice, and it will perch on the top of a bush or tree and sing for hours in rich, bubbling tones." - Teddy Roosevelt

Meet Teresa Perleberg, the creator of our logo!

Teresa is a fiber artist, educator, and entrepreneur based near Fort Ransom, North Dakota. She is the founder and owner of Bear Creek Felting, a pasture-to-product fiber art business she started in 2008. Through Bear Creek Felting, Teresa raises sheep, processes their wool, and creates needle-felting kits, wool, and supplies used by makers around the world. Her work and teaching have helped thousands of people discover the art of needle felting through kits, workshops, retreats, and her online learning community.

Teresa’s farm sits just outside the scenic Sheyenne River Valley, and the surrounding prairie landscape strongly influences her work. Many of the animals she sculpts in wool are inspired by the wildlife, farm animals, and natural beauty of North Dakota. Through her teaching, she encourages people to slow down, work with their hands, and experience the satisfaction of creating something meaningful.

Her shop and fiber mill, Bear Creek Felting, are located in Fort Ransom, where visitors can stop in to see the wool processing, browse needle felting kits and supplies, and experience a small piece of North Dakota’s creative fiber arts community.

In recent years Teresa has also developed a growing passion for watercolor painting. While needle felting remains the heart of her work, watercolor provides a creative balance and a welcome change of pace from the detailed sculptural work she does daily. It allows her to continue exploring creativity in a different way while still drawing inspiration from the land and animals around her.

Whether working with wool or watercolor, Teresa is drawn to art that tells a story. She believes creativity—much like poetry—helps us notice the beauty in everyday moments and share the spirit of a place with others.

Our History

Image Credit: Natalie

Development of the North Dakota State Poetry Society (NDSPS) was initiated through the efforts of Bismarck poet Bonnie Larson Staiger in October 2019, when it was unanimously accepted by the National Federation of State Poetry Societies as the official state affiliate for North Dakota. Staiger needed to step away for personal reasons shortly thereafter, and while development temporarily paused, interest did not cease.

A group of poets met in March of 2025 via zoom to agree upon and finalize the societies bylaws and to elect five members of the Board, including Denise Lajamodiere, John Warner, and officers Jamie Parsley as President, John Schaff as Vice President, and Christine Madline Ellsworth as Secretary-Treasurer.


Image Credit: John Warner

Our Board of Directors

  • President

    Jamie Parsley is the author of 15 books of poems, most recently Echo (2023, Benevolent Press) and Salt (2024, Kelsay Press). His latest book, S/O/M/A, is scheduled to be published in May. He has been an Associate Poet Laureate of North Dakota since 2004 and is currently serving as Poet-in-Residence at Concordia College, Moorhead, MN. He has an MFA in Creative Writing from Vermont College.

    He lives in Fargo, where he serves as Rector of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church.

  • Vice President

    John Schaff, born and raised n Bismarck, North Dakota, is a full time student at the University of Mary. He is majoring in English and minoring in philosophy. He has always loved literature and is particularly drawn to the poetry of the Romantic Era.

    His poem “Silence” was published by the online literary magazine Please See Me, and his poem “Daybreak” was published in the Fall 2024 edition of Pasque Petals.

  • Secretary/Treasurer

    Christine Madline Ellsworth currently resides in Wyndmere. She holds a BA in English literature from Minnesota State University, Moorhead, and an MA in English literature from Marquette University. She is in her final year of working towards certification as a certified poetry therapy facilitator. Christine is the author of Girl Again, published in 2020 by Potter’s Wheel Press. Her poetry has also been published in several regional journals.

  • Denise is an enrolled Citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, Belcourt, North Dakota. She has been involved in education for forty-four years as an Elementary teacher, Principal, and professor, earning her Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctorate degrees from the University of North Dakota. Dr. Lajimodiere is a retired Associate Professor from the School of Education, Ed. Leadership program, North Dakota State University, Fargo. Denise recently received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from North Dakota State University.

    She is one of the founders of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition (NABS) and was recently hired as an Oral Historian, Denise is a poet – Dragonfly Dance; Thunderbird; Bitter Tears; His Feathers Were Chains; Children’s book author, Josie Dances, and academic book author, Stringing Rosaries: The History, The Unforgivable, The Healing of Northern Plains Boarding School Survivors. She was named the first Native American North Dakota Poet Laureate. 2023-2025

    Denise is a traditional Jingle Dress dancer, Ojibwe Birch Bark Biting artist, and lives in a cozy cottage by a lake on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation.

  • Board Member

    John Warner is a retired farmer, pastor and legislator who has written poetry for more than 50 years for his own enjoyment. He is especially interested in the art form as a means of depicting rural life in the rich tradition of the farmer poets such as Carl Sandburg, Donald Hall, and Wendell Berry.