Brave New Park
It’s one of those steam baths of a late August night. Cicadas are revving up their engines in the post oaks and
Russell Cobb
Filter / Sort
This Land Films Presents: Far Western Official Trailer
Amid the ashes of post-WWII Japan, the bittersweet sounds of American traditional country music drifted through the
Stuart Hetherwood
The Ballad of Sis Cunningham
In late May 1940, Woody Guthrie was riding high in New York City. Although Guthrie had already made a name for himself
Richard Higgs
Hope
In the woods, in the deep hole I dug, beneath the power cable and the roots of box elder trees, down among the
Gordon Grice
For This Time, At Least
As darkness descends, this time in-between, when stars are not yet lit, the moon lingering far away, I
Ken Hada
Stalking the Smoking Gun
Every so often, perhaps once a week, the Oklahoma State Senate closes its doors, posts aging sentries outside in the
David Fritze
Love, Lennie
Like most of our peers, my brother and I were big fans of the TV sitcom The Odd Couple when we were growing up in
Charles Morrow
Hay Maker
By mechanics, lanes of yellow vanish into the bailer’s munching mouth, while out the other end, like some
Sandy Hiortdahl
Oklahoma: Land of Gore
Sometimes the gore tumbles from the cottonwood trees on the South Canadian River. Those were squirrels that never
Dale Ingram
The Secret Wheat Deal
In 1968, Richard Nixon began calling for an end to the Vietnam War. As a candidate for the presidency in 1968, he gave
James C. Thomas
Last Nice Day
There is a television channel that only shows the live radar, and my parents watch it the way other people watch
Meg Thompson
Dream Catcher
“And where are you from?” The inevitable vacation question. And I want to say Not that Oklahoma, The one you
Xandra Kaste
Death Under the Strawberry Moon
By 1794, the Cherokees were settling in the West in growing numbers, and conflict with the Osage over hunting rights
James Murray
The Pacifist Preacher & Quanah Parker
The Fourth Cavalry mustered at the gates of Fort Concho in San Angelo, Texas. Led by Colonel Ranald Mackenzie, the
Jay Cyril Mastrud
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
Disrespectfully Yours
In December 1950, Woody Guthrie and his family rented an apartment in the Beach Haven apartment complex in Brooklyn,
Barry Friedman
Trust Me
I used to think the funniest thing I’d ever heard Donald Trump say was when, one day in his office, he handed me a
Mark Singer
Leaning
At the 2016 Republican National Convention, which I covered for Flavorwire, I said (perhaps too optimistically) to
Tatiana Ryckman
Our Own Formulas
The 27th of May, 1949, was a momentous day for Louis “Speedy” Wiley, my grandfather. In the span of 24 hours, he
Apollonia Piña
Okie Islam
In late March 1963, field minister Arthur 7-X held a press conference in Oklahoma City. Nation of Islam travelers had
James Murray
Challengers of the Dust
Guymon, Oklahoma, 1935 I stepped off the westbound Santa Fe passenger train and entered Barsoom. Four
William Bernhardt
‘Til the Clowns Come Home
Passing Oaklawn Cemetery, on our way to Mazzio’s, Michelle made her request: “Mitch, can you take off your hat?”
Mitch Gilliam
Firelight Along the Frontier
Flames rushed skyward from a structure less than a mile away across the sagebrush. At the height of another dry desert
Michael Canyon Meyer
The Native Hue of Resolution
The Riverside Indian School is perched on a hill along the Washita River in the wind-whipped town of Anadarko,
Marcos Barbery
The Skunk Paint Years
It’s customary to begin with introductions amongst the Sioux. Even though this is a one-sided introduction—and
Marcus Bush
A New Day
Last September in the town of Bartlesville, 15-year-old Blue Haase got a ride to his local school board meeting. During
Molly Bullock
In My Tribe
A childhood summer afternoon is thrown into relief. I’m 10 years old. My big sister Kat and I are spending the day
Jezy J. Gray
The Greatest of Wrongs
The initial idea of the compilation of this work was to give the reading public an authentic record of the private life
Geronimo and S.M. Barrett
Imagine There’s No Cowboy
Indians on horseback have been stampeding across the television screen all afternoon. It’s the mid-1960s, so maybe
LeAnne Howe
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
Safe
Added a padlock to the fence, I am safe, nine different passwords, I am secure. New model with
Landry Harlan
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
Summer Leaving Oklahoma Before the Advent of Global Warming
Some morning in late September he’d stumble in the diner ragged as a dandelion in a dust storm: ripped
Nick Norwood
Surviving and Sustaining at Gosney Farms
One night in 1997, a concerned neighbor called John and Kris (Ratzlaff) Gosney of Cheyenne Valley, Oklahoma, with a
R.E. Graalman Jr.
Plane Cowboy
The man in a yellow shirt behind me His head too close to mine above worn navy-blue faux-leather, above the
Shandhini Raidoo
Haul
Their two-ton Jimmy staggers now, rolls and wobbles on creaky springs, creeping over berms on a
Nick Norwood
The Piano Player
For a divorced woman getting by as a music teacher in 1921, Patti Adams Shriner achieved an incredibly bold ambition
Scott Pendleton
In Transit
My alarm was set for 7:00 am, and when I woke up, it felt like Christmas morning. My boyfriend’s mom, Denise,
Katie Rain Hill
The Cyclone
It was Sunday afternoon, April 3, 1892, still and sultry, with a black cloud lying ominously back in the west and
Francis Moore Milburn
Weather You Care
A colorful sign reads, “MOTEL Reno.” The sky is dark with clouds in an array of white and black. Rain patters the
Mason Powell
At Risk
While driving to a visit in Adair County on an early afternoon in the rolling brown of a northeastern
Christopher Murphy
Rhyme & Punishment
I come to David L. Moss every week to teach poetry to incarcerated women. It’s become so routine that all of the
Beth Niestemski
Kurt Vonnegut’s Oklahoma Eden
On a warm day in December, Woolaroc ranch hands are rounding up the bison for the annual inspection and culling. A
Ginger Strand
This Alley
May 2013, Oklahoma County Highway’s littered – Broken wasp mid upturned beetles, kindling
Allison Adelle Hedge Coke
Then
Black Blizzard—hundreds of thousands of years to create the topsoil. Red from Oklahoma, Texas grey, brown Nebraska.
Allison Adelle Hedge Coke
It’s Too Late
For the houseboat in Amsterdam. The snake of blue through the city will wind without me turn to ice
Britton Gildersleeve
The Green Glacier
"I saw that the name you put to a thing depended on where you stood and where it stood. And… and here’s the
Kyle Walker
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
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
Oil Change
Oil filters into fingertips and under my nails, stains my callouses, clothes, driveway. Now it’s five
Randall Weiss
Isolation Is the Gift
This story was made possible in part by our friends at City of Guthrie. Thank you, City of Guthrie, for supporting
Mitch Gilliam
I’m Doing a Thing
Eric Fransen is a carpenter who has a woodworking studio in downtown Tulsa. At one point in his past, he was pursuing a
This Land
The Horror in the Ouachita Mountains
This story was made possible in part by our friends at City of Guthrie. Thank you, City of Guthrie, for supporting
James McGirk
Dixie Michell
Born and raised in New Orleans, musician and luthier Dixie Michell’s design sensibility grew from a childhood passion
This Land
Fireflies
Behind the backyard in red gold afternoon, shadows from the freeway wash against the side of forty-year-old homes
David Beebe
The Miracle of ‘Mass’
My wife and I drove the handful of miles from our beloved 92-year-old bungalow in Mesta Park to the Oklahoma City Civic
Jake Johnson
What Rhymes with Hideous Car Wreck?
Before he was recognized by Forbes as one of the world’s wealthiest hip-hop stars, before Jim Morrison and The Doors
James Benjamin
Lee Makes the Flowers Grow
West of Sand Springs, Oklahoma, on old Highway 51, past the grounds of the razed Hissom asylum, stand two stoplights.
Mitch Gilliam
The Filth and the Fury
Although Tulsa’s Cain’s Ballroom later became famous for catching future superstars like U2, The Police, and Van
John Wooley & Brett D. Bingham
A Ride With Bob
Confession time: Based on how huge an influence Bob Wills has always been on Asleep at the Wheel, you might think that
Ray Benson
Cain’s
Down at the music floor where they sell beer with plastic collars and gauges hide under mullets next to
Casie Trotter
On the Mystery Train with JD McPherson
Everybody knows Robert Johnson sold his soul to the Devil at a Mississippi crossroads one fateful midnight and gained
Brian Ted Jones
The Bicyclist
Your sweat falls in drops dotting the trail on a map, in a tour along the river, beside the irrigated
Frank Graham
Chet Baker’s Return
night club no time lighted juke box music, pockets of muffled chatter from expectant patrons scatter
Paul Austin
Trespassing Oklahoma
I. When I heard the shots—two quick bursts of three—I realized I’d lost track of my dog. A pickup about 300
Richard Higgs
School Spirits
Thep Phongparnich slinks into the conference room on Maejo University in the northern Thailand city of Chiang Mai, and
Kristi Eaton
Borrowed Traditions
This past June, the Japanese fiddler Okano Susumu1 celebrated his 59th birthday by taking time out from a work trip to
Denis Gainty
Woody’s Jesus
Now as I look around, it’s mighty plain to me This world is such a great and a funny place to be The gamblin’
Faith Phillips
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 Unlikely Baroness
The young black girl poses in a common, patterned dress by an ordinary side chair. Her shadow creates a ghostly
Steve Gerkin
A Stiller Ground
I walked in graveyards, gathering trash and fallen branches. I pulled weeds that obscured the names on old headstones
Gordon Grice
Grace in Broken Arrow
Editor's Note: Names of victims have been changed. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord
Kiera Feldman
Death’s Yellow Door
"We may be indifferent to the death penalty and not declare ourselves either way so long as we have not seen a
Kelly Kurt