A Famous Indian Artist
My uncle is the best Indian artist in the state of Oklahoma – more famous than I’ll ever be--has flown around the
Eddie Chuculate
Filter / Sort
Always and Forever
Imaginary Oklahoma is an ongoing platform in which some of today’s most important and influential writers combine
Ben Greenman
An Unscheduled Stop
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or
Constance Squires
Arbuckle Rift
Imaginary Oklahoma is an ongoing project in which some of today’s most important and influential writers combine
Nancy Mauro
Challengers of the Dust
Guymon, Oklahoma, 1935 I stepped off the westbound Santa Fe passenger train and entered Barsoom. Four
William Bernhardt
Disrespectfully Yours
In December 1950, Woody Guthrie and his family rented an apartment in the Beach Haven apartment complex in Brooklyn,
Barry Friedman
Doll
Imaginary Oklahoma is an ongoing project in which some of today’s most important and influential writers combine
Anna Solomon
Drinking Games
Imaginary Oklahoma is an ongoing project in which some of today’s most important and influential writers combine
Carolyn Parkhurst
Driver’s Ed
Imaginary Oklahoma is an ongoing project in which some of today’s most important and influential writers combine
Joe Meno
Enid, Oklahoma
Imaginary Oklahoma is an ongoing project in which some of today’s most important and influential writers combine with
Nathaniel Rich
Everyone’s Darling
Old Carlos squinted into the sun and grinned. “Come in,” he said and swung the door open and stepped aside, tilting
Richard Higgs
Exultemus
Imaginary Oklahoma is an ongoing project in which some of today’s most important and influential writers combine
Edith Pearlman
Fieldless Rhythms
They always played together. They made their own teams. He’d played since he could remember, before he even had a
Rhiannon Poolaw
Find Your Oklahoma
Imaginary Oklahoma is an ongoing project in which some of today’s most important and influential writers combine
Rachel Kushner
Foul Weather
Some things you can’t figure out. Not even with a whole heap of scratch paper and a ribbon of data from a chattering
Daniel H. Wilson
Ghosts of the Midway
I pull into the gravel parking lot on a bleary, sleeting morning. An Oklahoma sheriff keeps watch from a corner parking
Megan Shepherd
Homegrown
She puffs smoke and bounces on the tips of her toes like a boxer warming up in her corner or like she’s cold or
Eddie Chuculate
House of Earth
The walls measured eighteen feet from one to the other, no matter which direction you ran your string. One window was
Woody Guthrie
Hunger
Imaginary Oklahoma is an ongoing project in which some of today’s most important and influential writers combine
Lauren Groff
I Love the Russians
Imaginary Oklahoma is an ongoing project in which some of today’s most important and influential writers combine
Tom Rachman
It Only Got Worse
All right, before you judge me, you have to understand what I was dealing with. No matter what any man will tell you,
RJ Young
Jeff Keith, Lead Singer of Tesla, Considers Youth
Imaginary Oklahoma is an ongoing project in which some of today’s most important and influential writers combine with
Steve Almond
Linguistics
Imaginary Oklahoma is an ongoing project in which some of today’s most important and influential writers
Chandler Burr
Ma Bell’s
Imaginary Oklahoma is an ongoing project in which some of today’s most important and influential writers combine
Jonathan Lethem
Nicolas Cage’s Agent
Imaginary Oklahoma is an ongoing project in which some of today’s most important and influential writers combine with
Tao Lin
OK, Fine
Imaginary Oklahoma is an ongoing project in which some of today’s most important and influential writers combine with
Mary Jo Bang
Okies Smile at Strangers
Part I: New York, 1996 You drop out of college and move to New York, a place you’ve only seen in movies. You
Maya Sloan
Oklahoma Exclamation Point
Imaginary Oklahoma is an ongoing project in which some of today’s most important and influential writers combine with
Alethea Black
Oklahoma Is for Lovers
Imaginary Oklahoma is an ongoing project in which some of today’s most important and influential writers combine
Alexander Yates
Oklahoma Midrash
Imaginary Oklahoma is an ongoing project in which some of today’s most important and influential writers combine with
Gina Oschner
Papercrane
Imaginary Oklahoma is an ongoing project in which some of today’s most important and influential writers combine
Nic Brown
Pawn
Imaginary Oklahoma is an ongoing project in which some of today’s most important and influential writers combine
Josh Weil
Phaedra
Imaginary Oklahoma is an ongoing project in which some of today’s most important and influential writers combine with
Adam Langer
Quapaw, OK, 5/11
Imaginary Oklahoma is an ongoing project in which some of today’s most important and influential writers combine
Joshua Cohen
Rest Stop
Imaginary Oklahoma is an ongoing project in which some of today’s most important and influential writers combine with
Caitlin Horrocks
Reverse; Black Wound
Imaginary Oklahoma is an ongoing project in which some of today’s most important and influential writers combine with
Shann Ray
Rich Rice from Tulsa
Imaginary Oklahoma is an ongoing project in which some of today’s most important and influential writers combine with
Rebecca Makkai
Right Behind The Rain
Imaginary Oklahoma is an ongoing project in which some of today’s most important and influential writers
Jess Row
Rock Shop
Imaginary Oklahoma is an ongoing project in which some of today’s most important and influential writers combine
Brock Clarke
Rogers & Hammerstein and the Two Sids
The following is written by Barry Friedman and Ken Rogerson. On October 14, 1941, Richard
This Land
Sebald Sandwich
Imaginary Oklahoma is an ongoing project in which some of today’s most important and influential writers combine with
Wayne Koestenbaum
Sharks
Imaginary Oklahoma is an ongoing project in which some of today’s most important and influential writers combine
Jennifer DuBois
Showbiz Folk Hero
Imaginary Oklahoma is an ongoing project in which some of today’s most important and influential writers combine
Laurie Notaro
Songs
Imaginary Oklahoma is an ongoing project in which some of today’s most important and influential writers combine
Aimee Bender
Stillwater
Imaginary Oklahoma is an ongoing project in which some of today’s most important and influential writers combine with
Matt Bondurant
Streetlamps
Imaginary Oklahoma is an ongoing project in which some of today’s most important and influential writers combine with
Alan Heathcock
Surrey with the Fringe on Top
A black bear has come out of the hills to the highway. He lumbers along the shoulder and throws a great paw out. A
Karin C. Davidson
Tears
Imaginary Oklahoma is an ongoing project in which some of today’s most important and influential writers combine
Padgett Powell
Teenage Vengeance
“Wake up.” My sister was shaking my shoulder, and not gently. I opened one eye. According to the clock on my
Jennifer Latham
Ten-Dollar Word
Transcendence? That’s a ten-dollar word, Delbert. But yeah, I’ve got one for you. This happened the summer I was
Steve Garrison
Texaco Sign
Imaginary Oklahoma is an ongoing project in which some of today’s most important and influential writers combine with
Jack Pendarvis
The Athens of the West, 1894
Arnel Plumbly can see it before it happens, and he moves out of the way just in time. The surrey’s wheels hit the
Allison Amend
The Dirt Room
She couldn’t resist the photographs online, or the sellers’ description: Adorable Cape Cod with walk-out
Aimee Parkison
The Gates of Tunis
Sometimes during the unending nothingness of prison days, I imagine what our lives would have been like if Jens
Keija Parssinen
The Homestead
The cruiser cab hummed all around WilDer, nearly electric with the energy of corralled students on holiday. Mal, a live
Paige Duke
The Imaginary Oklahoma Podcast Episode 4: Rest Stop
- Photo by Shane Brown In this episode of Imaginary Oklahoma, Liz Blood reads Caitlin Horrocks’ story of a
This Land
The Imaginary Oklahoma Podcast Episode 5: Drinking Games
– Illustration by William Godwin In this episode of Imaginary Oklahoma, Carolyn Parkhurst's story
This Land
The Imaginary Oklahoma Podcast Episode 6: Of All Places
Illustration by Derrick Dent In this episode, writer Lori Ostlund presents a tale about what people think about a
This Land
The Promise of Labor
Imaginary Oklahoma is an ongoing project in which some of today’s most important and influential writers
Stephen Dau
The Reverse Hijack
Imaginary Oklahoma is an ongoing project in which some of today’s most important and influential writers combine with
Brian Frazer
The Sawblade Painter
In the morning, he examines her. Though she is nineteen to his thirty-two, Don finds her garish in the clean light.
Whitney Ray
The Tigers of the Oklahoma Pool Halls
Imaginary Oklahoma is an ongoing project in which some of today’s most important and influential writers combine with
Tupelo Hassman
The Violinist
Imaginary Oklahoma is an ongoing project in which some of today’s most important and influential writers
Emily St. John Mandel
The Whale of Catoosa
Imaginary Oklahoma is an ongoing project in which some of today’s most important and influential writers combine with
Craig Morgan Teicher
Tish
Tishomingo was a place I never had to lock my bike and I rode it all over town: to school, to Larry's IGA, to Mill
Eddie Chuculate
Tom Mix
Imaginary Oklahoma is an ongoing project in which some of today’s most important and influential writers combine with
John Crowley
Wailing Wall
Imaginary Oklahoma is an ongoing project in which some of today’s most important and influential writers combine with
Deborah Willis
Way the Crow Flies
Mr. Crow there, he hangs around this time near every day; waiting for something to die. Once, I saw some crow feasting
Allison Adelle Hedge Coke
Yellow Weather
Imaginary Oklahoma is an ongoing project in which some of today’s most important and influential writers combine
Christine Schutt
You Are Going to Be a Good Man
The moon has been off my left shoulder for thirty-seven years and I’ve never known a blue this bad, this purple. Lots
George McCormick