Last Paperboys in Oklahoma Carry the News
At five am, thick bundles litter the front porch of the highway patrol, while all the newspaper boys in South Tulsa
Markham Johnson
Filter / Sort
The Deluge
After thirty-four days of rain we wake to mallards navigating the back lawn and four survivor squirrels beached on
Markham Johnson
The Ghost of Hank Williams Returns to Cain’s Ballroom
The last time, he was sitting on a stump in a cone of yellow light and cigarette smoke, and the bats
Markham Johnson
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
routine
every evening after the six o’clock i ate dinner, something fast, sitting at the desk. eight tv screens, three
Quraysh Ali Lansana
Theatre of the Absurd
I’m a fiction writer, but I’m not a very good creative writer. Like a lot of writers, I steal shamelessly from
Larry Baker
The Sound of Poetry
I don’t remember her name. I do remember that I interrupted her quiet. She was a plump, youngish woman, sitting in
Abby Wendle
Mother Orpha
The 1970 Cole’s Cross Reference Directory—an avocado-green volume in the corner of the fourth floor of Central
Natasha Ball
The Forest That Ate Washington Irving
If you’d have talked to Washington Irving the night before he set out from Fort Gibson on his 1832 romp through Green
Natasha Ball
All’s Faire in Love, Junk, and War Games
In 1973, author and two-time Libertarian presidential candidate Harry Browne published How I Found Freedom in an Unfree
Natasha Ball
Kite Riders in the Sky
I watched a man I’d just met lug what looked like an industrial tricycle into the middle of an open soccer field. He
Natasha Ball
A Day at the Races
When Richard Linihan was a boy, his mother dreamt that a horse bit her on the back of the neck. She couldn’t shake
Natasha Ball
Taking the Wool by the Horns
Mutton busting is that curiosity tucked between lines of tall letters on rodeo posters, usually toward the bottom.
Natasha Ball
Let Them Beat Cake
Janine Esler’s entry for the 2011 Grand National Wedding Cake Competition rode in the back of her van through five
Natasha Ball
The Lost “Gypsy Society”
Badger sipped coffee in the audience at The Gypsy Coffee House open-mic night for an entire year before he wrote his
Natasha Ball
Bible Student Humor
About 20 years ago, a group of students at Rhema Bible Training Center met in secret, somewhere under that spinning
Natasha Ball
Gaming: the Gift that Keeps on Giving
For someone who’s not from here, it must be eerie to head out for breakfast on a Sunday morning and discover the
Natasha Ball
No Train, No Gain
The billboards go up in early November: the flushed cheeks of a Coca-Cola- reminiscent Santa Claus rendered 10 feet
Natasha Ball
Down in the Dirt
“You lose racers in crashes,” he said. “What happened today, this morning, is different.” I’m talking to
Natasha Ball
House in the Hill
Here it comes, I’d tell myself. I’d know it was almost time by the way my parents’ car would begin to wind along
Natasha Ball
Postcards From the Edge
The artifacts arrived in a truck at the back door of Gilcrease Museum, shipped there in cardboard boxes. They’d been
Natasha Ball
Stormchasing 101: Learning to See Red
At the front of Meeting Room A at the Case Community Center in Sand Springs sat a projector on a metal stand, humming
Natasha Ball
Leon’s Got Mussels
Kathy Todoroff took the phone from her husband. She remembers asking into the receiver: “What would you like to eat,
Natasha Ball
The Ways We Remember
His four-day road trip traced I-40 from Durham to L.A. By the end he’d seen the Smoky Mountains, Meteor Crater in
Natasha Ball
When the Going Gets Tough
The crowd of spectators lining the edges of the course are packed just as tightly as the racers—shoulder to shoulder,
Natasha Ball
Breakfast of Champion
Waffle Champion surfaced on the Oklahoma City corner of the Facebook universe last summer, posting a series of photos
Natasha Ball
Adventures of the Barely Clad
Jessica Gripp pulled off her T-shirt, revealing the black demi-bra underneath. A few of her classmates helped her on
Natasha Ball
The King in Okemah
Debbie Keef sat on the sidewalk in her black sweat suit, Elvis Presley’s signature in nail heads on her right hip.
Natasha Ball
Begetting Bats
A single bat represents one out of every four or five mammals on earth. The Mexican free-tailed bat is the speedster of
Natasha Ball
The History of the Tulsa Holiday Parade of Lights
J.M. Hall, the often-called Father of Tulsa who partnered with his brother H.C. in the early 1880s to build Tulsa’s
Natasha Ball
Mother Orpha
The 1970 Cole’s Cross Reference Directory—an avocado-green volume in the corner of the fourth floor of Central
Natasha Ball
Home on the Range
My husband and I pulled into the parking lot of the United States Shooting Academy early in the morning, taking a
Natasha Ball
Shaun Perkins
Shaun Perkins forged the Rural Oklahoma Museum of Poetry out of her father’s old machine shop as a tiny monument to
Natasha Ball
Taking the Wool by the Horns
Mutton busting is that curiosity tucked between lines of tall letters on rodeo posters, usually toward the bottom.
Natasha Ball
Jon Mooneyham
Jon Mooneyham is an Antlers graduate, a non-practicing Pastafarian, the un-un-cola. A former member of The Flaming
Natasha Ball
Lafferty Lost and Found
They convened in a meeting room in the back of an old Borden’s Cafeteria. A bald man with a soft paunch, looking
Natasha Ball
Letter from Brooklyn
Moving to New York was a no-brainer. When I was a 2-year-old, my father took me on my first harbor boat. He wrapped his
Juan Reinoso
Impressions of The Race Riot Suite
Composed by Chris Combs for the Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey and Horn Quintet Chris Combs wondered if there was
Denis McGilvray
Nearly Empty House
A path is worn smooth in the hardwood floor, heading out the front door. The window above the kitchen sink is cracked
Denis McGilvray
Tower of Power
As you loop along a curve on Interstate 244, downtown Tulsa drifts across the windshield, floating atop the fringe of
Justin Taylor
What Lies Beneath
In 1997, when Clyde Snow agreed to investigate claims from the Tulsa Race Riot, the forensic anthropologist was at the
Kevin O'Connor
Thor Moves to Oklahoma
Mortals who decided to check out the comic book exploits of Thor after enjoying the thunder god’s adventures at the
James Vance
“C” is for Collaboration
1964 was a fertile year for Joe Brainard. After a brief retreat from the pressures of establishing himself in New York
James Vance
Drawing the Line
The estimated 1,000-plus songs he wrote have made him the de facto poet laureate of common humanity. Generations of
James Vance
Poet Issues
I have an almost pathological fear of poets. Well, not all poets. I developed my phobia in a graduate poetry
Carol Johnson
Blindfolded by the Klan
It was an hour before dusk when we pulled into Idabel. The late summer heat yellowed the rim of the southern Oklahoma
J. Don Cook
Letter from Brazil
Growing up in Oklahoma was a great education in life, as it opened my eyes to the racism, classism and hate in the
Gary Dotterman
Wanenmacher Arms Show
Gilded guns and rusted relics dominate the tabletops that stretch end to end across the QuikTrip Center, covering both
Sarah Szabo
Eastland: Where Malls Go When They Die
Mock-tiled carpet, beige and hypnotic, spreads out beneath a grim gunmetal ceiling that is broken only by the central
Sarah Szabo
A Comanche House in Cache
The Star House—named for the series of white stars painted starkly on its roof, signifying nothing in
Sarah Szabo
The Awareness of Walter White
I grew up in Tulsa, but was raised knowing next to nothing about the Race Riot of 1921. Though I considered myself
Adrian Margaret Brune
Creative Intention
It was a nitrate negative that marshaled an august tribute for its 2012 re-release—and a movie poster of the finest
Adrian Margaret Brune
Confronting Male Aggression
During the early 1990s in Oklahoma, Catholic prep schools didn’t exactly impress punk music, rebellion, or third-wave
Adrian Margaret Brune
Signs of Forgotten Times
In a small meeting room in a Unitarian Universalist church a few miles north of downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma, people of
Adrian Margaret Brune
An Oklahoma Son Airs His Family Secrets
By the early 1970s, the writer John Cheever had slipped beyond alcoholic; his prodigious drinking had likely caused
Adrian Margaret Brune
Letter from Marina Del Ray
I came to Tulsa in 1978 at the age of 22 with my brothers Steve and Rick and nothing but a suitcase. We had been in a
Tim Barraza
Get a Head of Steam for Your Self-Esteem
Write a note of affirmation with a good fountain pen and thick creamy paper and put it in your purse, wallet or lunch,
Sam Lipsyte
Union Busting
The days may be numbered for Tulsa’s Union Public School system. In the wake of recent anti-union sentiment that is
Beau Adams
Hunting for a Mayor
I have been reading a good deal in the news recently about your problems with our Mayor. The litany of charges you have
Beau Adams
Baby Boomer
Checotah (AP)—Tim Rutledge, a local meat inspector, and his wife signed a national letter of intent Tuesday morning
Beau Adams
Flooding the Arkansas River: A Pro and Con List
MEMO TO: Citizens of Tulsa FROM: Mayor Dewey F. Bartlett Jr. RE: Arkansas River Dear
Beau Adams
Irons in the Fire
Minus the invention of the steel shaft in the 1930s, golf clubs had barely changed in decades. Irons were forged of
Beau Adams
Hell on Wheels
Stephen Lassiter is not a hipster. He is an Integrity Analyst for Magellan Midstream Partners in Tulsa and he rides
Beau Adams
Everybody’s All-American
Roughly five miles outside of Prague, Oklahoma, I make the necessary turn onto Moccasin Trail road and head towards
Beau Adams
Swingin’ Mick
Preston Peavy, a baseball hitting coach, uses kinematics in his Atlanta training facility to study the properties
Beau Adams
Bass Ackwards
Ten years ago, I helped a group of kids string up a dozen cane poles in an effort to put them in touch with nature in
Beau Adams
From Russia, with Love
In southeast Tulsa, among dozens of strip centers whose anodyne facades betray all manner of capitalistic guts within,
Beau Adams
Pretty Boy Floyd in Tulsa
The following is an excerpt from Michael Wallis' Pretty Boy: The Life and Times of Charles Arthur Floyd which comes out
Michael Wallis
Excerpts from Wild West 365
Gaudy Liar In 1856, the appearance of the action-packed Life and Adventures of James P. Beckwourth, Mountaineer,
Michael Wallis
The Other Mother Road
Pour yourself a sipping drink and get comfortable. I am going to tell you a story. It’s about a postal worker named
Michael Wallis
Mark Enger (1963-2011)
The brothers were opinionated and brutally honest. The two of them together was sometimes overwhelming. When they
Dan Riffe
Pork Bellies and the Future of This Land
Michael Mason has started something big. And it all began with two pork bellies. Several months ago, when This Land
Vincent LoVoi
Letter to Senator Inhofe
Senator James Inhofe 205 Russell Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 -3603 Dear Senator Inhofe, This
Vincent LoVoi
The Best We Can Do
Last Friday, Tulsa Police Chief Chuck Jordan issued a statement addressing This Land Press and its coverage of the
Vincent LoVoi
Bigger and Better
This Land gets bigger today. And this land gets better, too. I mean that in every possible sense: we’ve expanded
Vincent LoVoi
Long Live Radio: A Letter from This Land’s Publisher
Dear Reader, This issue includes a piece about Lum and Abner, a radio show from the early 20th century. In this
Vincent LoVoi
Move Tulsa Forward
Dear City Councilors: Inertia comes in two forms: unmoving objects that resist change and moving objects that
Vincent LoVoi
A Sense of Solidarity
Lee Roy Chapman writes: The United States Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility (ADX) in Florence, Colorado, aka
Ted Kaczynski
Letter from Nakuru
I originally joined the Peace Corps out of college. They invited me to serve in Somalia, a country I had never heard
Jim Shanor
Bat Country
The following originally appeared in Granta 63: Beasts. It is re-printed here with full permission from the
Gordon Grice
Of Vice and Men: a Killing
A paved road in rural Oklahoma; on either side, miles of rolling grassland, the grass tall and pale with autumn. My
Gordon Grice
A Stiller Ground
I walked in graveyards, gathering trash and fallen branches. I pulled weeds that obscured the names on old headstones
Gordon Grice
Two Ways of Looking at a Turkey Vulture
One: After work one day, I lay on the couch beneath the picture window. Outside, the Siberian elms tossed their
Gordon Grice
The Mummy of John Wilkes Booth
"My ashes, as the phoenix, may bring forth A bird that will revenge upon you all." — William
Gordon Grice
Letter from Chicago
It’s hell in Chicago when the wind sings a tune, But the worst thing in town is this Chicago Tribune. The Windy
Thomas Conner
Woody Guthrie & Unions Amen!
Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure and oppress all your workers. - Isaiah 58: 3 Our song
Thomas Conner
Heaven and Heart: The Tense Past of Michael Been
Methodist church basement, northwest Oklahoma City, 1987. Yes, there is wood paneling. Yes, the carpet is shag, a rich
Thomas Conner
The Stuff of Dreams
I want you to pay a lot more attention to all my words longer and deeper and quieter and louder than I ever could.
Thomas Conner
Beyond the Archives
Woody Guthrie wrote songs, poems, essays, newspaper columns, letters, diaries, you name it. Writing was a compulsion
Thomas Conner
Karen Dalton
Even before she rose from the dead, Karen Dalton always sounded like a ghost. Her voice was an unearthly coo, a
Thomas Conner
Peeling in the Years
On October 3, Britain’s IT1 network aired a documentary, Exposure: The Other Side of Jimmy Savile, in which 10 women
Thomas Conner
Rare Earth
Woody Guthrie’s first book, the autobiographical Bound for Glory, was originally published in 1943. Like any
Thomas Conner
Dispatches from the Weedpatch Camp
Like many pejoratives, the word “Okie” has been reclaimed—particularly within the borders of its namesake
Thomas Conner
#RebootChrisGaines
This is a call for Troyal Brooks to bring his alter ego out of retirement. No, not Garth — though that ol’
Thomas Conner
A Naked Person Is Not a Poem
Harrod Blank seems like an affable, naturally cheery fella. You’d think then that his dad, documentary filmmaker Les
Thomas Conner
The Anti-Okie Panic
In the public discourse, the desperate people pouring over the border in search of work were described as an “influx
Thomas Conner
A Time for Jazz
I first encountered the history of jazz in the car, on the way to school in Dallas, TX. My dad would listen to the jazz
Steven Schrag
Filth of Any Kind
“That there is hereby created in the City of Tulsa, an office to be known as City Scavenger.” With those words,
Jack Blair
Before There Was Color
I grew up wanting to be a dramatic actress—emphasis on dramatic—because I spent my formative years in front of the
Teresa Miller
Tulsa TV Memories
In the early days of the World Wide Web, I fell in love with a couple of websites. One was Ash Wakeman's humor site,
Mike Ransom