Joey Brown’s Oklahomagraphy, published last year by Mongrel Empire Press, is one of the best books of Oklahoma-themed poetry published in recent memory. So, I thought I’d use this space to promote it, with no hidden agenda, as I do not know Joey Brown personally and am not financially invested in Mongrel Empire Press (I just want to see them prosper as they deserve).
“This is Oklahoma poetry at its finest. Brown employs a refreshing variety of techniques - from longer-lined narrative poems in the spirit of B.H. Fairchild to more compact and meditative lines that are reminiscent of some of Jim Barnes' poems (to make comparisons to other Oklahoma poets) - but her approach to content is all original. One could say, in fact, that the best thing about this book is Brown's "eye," her unique sense of what to make a poem out of. These poems hum with finely observed detail framed by the poet in highly original ways. One of the highlights is the twelve-part poem "July," which appears near the end of the book and in which Brown achieves both deft characterization and thematic richness with the lightest of brushstrokes, as she conveys not just the physical but also the emotional and spiritual landscape of small-town Oklahoma. This book is a must read, especially for fans of poets like William Stafford and Ted Kooser.”
