A Brief History of the Midwest

by Andrew Grace

Genres: Poetry

92 pages, Paperback

Published May 27, 2025

Reviews

[Beauregard Francis · Rating 2 out of 5]

as a certified Midwesterner, I generally love poetry about the Midwest. Unfortunately, I didn't feel like this collection had a very coherent grasp on its theme. The first part is individual poems, and the last few sections are all longform poetry that I by and large didn't find very successful. I didn't find the observations astute or the writing profound. But hey, I'm not the one with a PhD in poetry. I'm just some jackass with a library card.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

For those who attended the college Andy Grace teaches at, many of the referents in this book may seem all too familiar. The sign reading “Hell is Real”, the opioid epidemic, the killer who stuffed the body in the hollow tree, the Kokosing river. I can’t read these poems without the sense of eerie familiarity, and the struggle I had finding inspiration for my own writing when I was there. Knox County is beautiful and harrowing - you can find comfort in your studies, but there is also an unfathomable bleakness to it. I enjoyed my time there, but I can’t imagine staying beyond four years. I found this collection of Grace’s to be, in a way, his most suffocating and painful - but I mean that in a way that compliments his art. I think to live in central Ohio is also to feel these things.

The collection is split into four parts. The first is sort of a grab-bag of Ohio as it is. It eases the reader into what comes next, introducing the author as professor, ideas of salvation and damnation, loss of a father, and addiction. The second part is an extremely successful long poem about Knox County. I loved the form that it used to navigate the space and events of the area. The third section uses found fragments of journals and Midwestern history to explore life in Ohio over centuries. I found this the most difficult section to read through, as many of the journal entries, even those most apocalyptic, are filled with tedium of daily habits. “Chore and enchantment / have the same root / if you ignore / the actual laws of language / and instead obey / your own personal understanding / of what in this life / should be woven together” Brilliant but unpleasant.

The final section, Boyne River Daybook, is worth the price of admission alone. A series of nested poems exploring alcohol addiction, loss, and the river, it is to my mind the culmination of all of the ideas that the book is working towards. Admittedly, as a lover of Li Po, I agree that yes, he does make it seem glamorous.

I enjoy Grace’s poetry the most when he gives himself plenty of space to work through ideas, like in Sancta. There is plenty of that here as well!

[Wyatt strawbridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty great. Lots of memorable poems and even some relatable ones in strange ways I didn’t expect. So glad I got to hear some of the read aloud by Andrew Grace, and that I will be able to take his class soon!

[Jess]

I recognized the descriptions in this.

[Helen Cho · Rating 5 out of 5]

Saw author at book reading with the Delaware County Library annual meeting at Liberty Library. He was personable and friendly, told a story that I now cannot remember, read a sampling of his poems from this book. I was not particularly moved nor captivated by the poems read and was quite surprised when I started reading and found the work captivating.

Hey, this guy writes good poems. Hardly news, I guess, but I don't read a lot of poetry and the ones I've tried reading by my professors I have not found especially moving. These poems have a tone, a voice, a stance that is poetry.

Glad I bought the book.

[Matt McBride · Rating 5 out of 5]

"You can take pain and lay it out / Like blank pages on a table. / From above it looks like windows / Of a building full of snow. / I shovel. You do too. We're all in here digging." (from "Boyne River Daybook")