Woody Poets 2026
Woody Guthrie Center
July 12, 2026
The culmination of the Woody Poets 2026 reading series—an annual event that toured to Oklahoma City and Okemah before landing in Tulsa last Sunday—was well-attended, emotional, and all too urgent. Centered around this year’s series theme, “Deportee,” each of the 12 poets who read their work last weekend at the Woody Guthrie Center Theater pulled from images of language, movement, and violence.
“Deportee,” also known as “Plane Wreck at Los Gatos,” was Woody Guthrie’s written response to the lack of care from American media in relation to the 1948 plane crash that killed 28 migrant farm workers in Los Gatos, California. Guthrie’s frustration and anger at American media for not naming the victims in its coverage combines his deep-seated support for labor movements with his passion for racial justice. In its 19th official year of convening, the Woody Poets series reflected on these ideas within a current wave of violent anti-immigration action perpetrated by the American government.