In this book of poetry, photographs, and scripture, poet Nathan Brown expands the tradition of spiritual literary struggles by engaging with the Book of Job both as poetry and as catalyst for personal, contemporary questions of innocence and experience, faith and doubt. Often irreverent but always honest, Not Exactly Job is an emotionally powerful and intellectually challenging work.

Not Exactly Job

Literature & Fiction

Brown, Nathan

Poetry

Mongrel Empire Press

A collection of poetry, flash fiction, & photographs. "Ocampo's voice is tender and competent, grounded in good earth, but a voice that also explores the forbidden, the forgotten, the futile, then returns us toward wisdom. Ken Hada, author of The Way of the Wind; "Ocampo has given us the gift of an outsider-become-Okie, whose tilted angle on things is as refreshing as it is unpredictable." Nathan Brown, author of Not Exactly Job

Surface Tension

Patrick Ocampo

A biography of L. W. Marks, a progressive Baptist minister at the turn of the century who pastored churches in Missouri and Oklahoma, published the religious newspaper, Word & Way, and served as mayor of Edmond, OK. Written by noted regional historian, Alvin O. Turner.

L. W. Marks: A Baptist Progressive in Missouri & Oklahoma, 1862-1943

Biographies & Memoirs

Turner Ph. D., Alvin O.

Leaders & Notable People

Winner of the 2010 National Western Heritage Award, these poems, acting as spare parts in themselves, go into the making of one smooth-running, powerful engine. --Diane Glancy, author of Pushing the Bear

Spare Parts

Hada, Ken

In My Sideways Heart, with consummate poetic skill, Brown explores the nuances of human relationships, and he does so with a courage and emotional honesty rare in contemporary American poetry. Are the poems in this collection "love poems"? Absolutely, but "love poems" skillfully absent the banal excesses of sentimentality. Brown writes with the confidence and directness of an experienced poet, and his seemingly simple diction belies the hard-earned wisdom stirring deep beneath the surface of his art. -Larry D. Thomas, 2008 Texas Poet Laureate

My Sideways Heart

Arts & Photography

Photography & Video

In Joey Brown's Oklahomaography, crows,coyotes and thunder reflect the hard-won lives of the men and women who inhabit the land, and those who yearn to escape. These are splendid poems, filled with hard-edged narrative, the kinds of poems I like best. - Jo-Ann Mapson, author of Hank &amp; Chloe, Bad Girl Creek, and The Owl &amp; Moon Cafe

Oklahomaography

Brown, Joey

Crossing a Different Bridge is a powerful revelation of the growth of an artist and an important documentation of a particular Oklahoma chapter of Catholic history in danger of becoming merely monastic ruins, cemeteries, and footnotes. Judith Tate O'Brien's distilled memories of a life in the oil patch, Catholic boarding schools, and the convent are honest and intense. Her spare, precise language and unflinching inward gaze crystallize harsh experience into high art. Readers will be forever grateful that Judith "converted to poetry" at an early age. -Terry Britton, President, Rose State College

Crossing a Different Bridge: An Oklahoma Memoir

O'Brien, Judith Tate

Historical

Fighters &amp; Writers is neither a traditional sports book nor a conventional collection of literary essays. The title essay surveys a selection of the mammoth body of literature involving boxing in addition to writing on closely related topics such as confidence games. "The Ali Act" considers writers' undiminished interest in one extraordinary boxer. "The Fighting Life" looks at two prominent writers' use of boxing in their fiction. "A First-Class Sport" assesses boxing's frequently overlooked positive aspects by examining the memoirs and autobiographies of several boxing enthusiasts, including a former heavyweight champion, a well-known trainer and television analyst, and prominent public figures including a former president and a U.S. senator. Other pieces in the collection explore how boxing inserts itself in writers' imaginations even when they write about other subjects. Essays on diverse topics such as book dedications, Orwell's Spanish Civil War memories, digressions, tattoos and losing weight reveal the close, if not always recognized, connections between fighters and writers.

Fighters & Writers

John G. Rodwan Jr.

Essays & Correspondence

Way over yonder in the minor key There ain't nobody that can sing like me --Woody Guthrie Originally published as issue #35 of Sugar Mule: A Literary Magazine (www.sugarmule.com), this groundbreaking anthology includes 188 selections of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, essays, and visual art by 78 writers and 2 visual artists who currently live in Oklahoma. A powerful gathering of voices, singing hymns, telling stories, making truth from a powerful place. --Rilla Askew, author of Fire in Beulah and Harpsong

Ain't Nobody That Can Sing Like Me: New Oklahoma Writing

United States

Alan Berecka's Remembering the Body is one of the few poetry books I couldn't put down. These poems are high-energy, driving narratives that range from hilarious vignettes to poignant episodes of loss and injustice-and now and then one of these small, complete stories manages to be both. Berecka's special gift is a twisty irony that hauls your eyelids up. Try reading the first poem, "The Evolving Case for De-evolution," with a straight face. Peopled with characters you would love to meet or avoid, the poems are mocking and meta- physical, quizzical, sometimes angry, sometimes shoulder-shruggingly acceptant, sometimes romantic and sometimes cynical-but always intriguing. --Janet McCann, Professor of English Texas A&amp;M Alan Berecka's poems reveal truth in microcosm...and a pure heart weaving allegories that range from his native northern land to Texas. These poems will never die because truths are the same at all times in every heart...Because Alan's poetry is easily under- stood, some may misunderstand how superb a poet he is. It is hard to find words better organized to generate emotions than one sees and feels in Remembering the Body. --Cleatus Rattan, 2004 Texas Poet Laureate A son trying to outgrow a father, a sinner reckoning with saints, Alan Berecka evokes ancient Greece, summons Corpus Christi, quickens Wordsworth and wrestles with God. You will laugh and cry as you read these poems, but most of all, you will think what a good and haunting thing it is to be human. --Ken Hada, author of Spare Parts and The Way of the Wind

Remembering the Body

Berecka, Alan

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Books by Mongrel Empire Press