David Pilon Writes About The Oklahoma Review

In the spring semester of 2010, I was enrolled in a class at Cameron University listed as Online Magazine Editing. It wasn’t really exactly what I had expected or what it might sound like to some. The class was also my introduction to The Oklahoma Review, a publication I wish I had known about sooner.

The Oklahoma Review is an international online magazine published twice each year through the English Department at Cameron. Its Editor in Chief and the professor in charge of the class that publishes it is Dr. John Hodgson. For those who don’t know Dr. Hodgson, he can seem intimidating at first with his booming voice of authority, and it’s also not a great idea to smart off to him or shirk on assignments (both of which I’ve sometimes done in the past). However, it was actually fun working for him, and I learned a lot from the experience.

I was also impressed both by the volume and the quality of work the magazine receives. Being in the class also means being on the staff, and my main task as such was working as a student reader, reading through and evaluating poems, short stories, and works of creative nonfiction. I read some great pieces (and honestly, some not-so-great ones as well), and I got to openly discuss them with my peers. Out of the works published in the spring issue, I was particularly fond of the short story “The Statue at the Café Ephemera,” by Robert Kaye.

As a Creative Writing major, a writer, and someone who is looking towards pursuing an MFA and probably going on to be a college instructor, what I gained most from working on the magazine was learning more about the submission and publication processes, as well as building better communication skills in regards to writing and literature and a better understanding of what is considered quality, contemporary literature.

The spring 2010 issue of The Oklahoma Review turned out really good, and I enjoyed helping to create it. I liked reading the poems and the one work of fiction published in this issue, and I would recommend the magazine to anyone who values quality literature, as well as recommending the magazine editing class at Cameron to anyone who is interested.

David Pilon is a senior Creative Writing student at Cameron University. He is also the newly elected Vice President of the Cameron chapter of Sigma Tau Delta. He has been a reader for both The Oklahoma Review and The Gold Mine Literary & Fine Arts Journal. His poetry was nominated for the John G. Morris Poetry Prize the past two years.

Submit to OKIE

OKIE Magazine posted this to their Facebook page the other day:

Photographers, artists, musicians, writers ...OKIE is currently seeking submissions for inclusion in upcoming issues of our publication. Please click the link below for details on submitting your works. Want to help out with the magazine on a regular basis and be part of a great group of volunteers - drop me a line at editor@okiemagazine.com .

OKIE Magazine Submission Guidelines

I may have mentioned in another post or four that I write for the OKIE, and I can tell you ... they might be trying to find people who are more punctual and less pirate-talky.

Seriously, though. I love writing for OKIE Mag or even thinking of things to write for it. The process always introduces me to new ways of appreciating the things that are happening right around me. I've interviewed people for a couple of the articles I've written, and now I find that I am always thinking of interview questions I want to ask the people I meet. I now notice interesting places around town that I might have passed by before. Because I'm looking for them. I'm beginning to think about Lawton as a story I want to tell people. So that's why I like writing for OKIE Mag.

I believe at some point I will also be given a free t-shirt or something like that.

Anyway, I hope you'll check out the latest issue and consider contributing to a future issue. Occasionally, OKIE Magazine will consider poetry and fiction as well as non-fiction, though they are not a literary magazine.

Another Publication with Excellent Taste in Poets

This literary magazine right here:

(link ^)

has had the good sense to publish two of our fellow poets--and Cameron graduates--Tracy Haught and Jason Poudrier, in a special Oklahoma Writer's Issue.

Congratulations to them!

Jason Poudrier regularly attends the monthly poetry readings, so if you do too, it is likely you have heard him read some of the poems that will appear in Sugar Mule. We may have even heard several revisions of the poems. Jason is a veteran of the most recent war in Iraq. His poems, which often transpose images of the Iraq war over images of the Oklahoma landscape, present a vision that is probably familiar to a lot of Lawtonians.

Here is a bit from his poem "Red Fields," which is one that will be appearing in Sugar Mule:

our holes would be shallow,
and we'd push the sand up around
the perimeter, making
a false reservoir of safety,
knowing bullets would penetrate
the powdered walls if we were ambushed,
and our bodies would lie
half-exposed in shallow graves,
in pools coloring the sand
Oklahoma clay.


You can read some of Tracy Haught's poetry in the latest issue of Polyphony , where her poem, "Oklahoma," also presents a brave and authentic vision of our state.


Where sunset flames
On the western horizon
Like the sparks of past pain.
Like those who were forced
To walk until they could no longer be
What God intended them to be.
The only abundance was in tears--
Plenty enough for future irrigation--
but mostly they've been forgotten,
Overlooked in the stomping and clapping,
the humdrum of the average life


Sugar Mule is a really cool looking magazine, and I'm pretty excited about an issue featuring a lot of Oklahoma voices, like Tracy's and Jason's. The issue will be available on line in July, and eventually Sugar Mule will partner with Mongrel Empire Press to create a print anthology of Oklahoma Writers.

Here's a link to the current issue.

Read This!

Local poet, Tracy Haught, has some poems appearing in this publication:

You may have heard her reading some of these poems at the monthly reading.

Read them! Love them! Say so!