The Common Autobiography by Craig Mindrum

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In this debut poetry collection, Craig Mindrum’s romantic, sometimes sexual memory are in full force. His cleverness, spirituality, and word play are evident in many of the poems, which are at least sometimes hopeful. Yet one particular theme serves as a strong undercurrent of this collection: Many of his poems focus on mental illness, denial, suicide, betrayal, trauma, cowardice, disappointment, addiction, abuse, and terror, throughout his family’s generations. Hope pervades the book, as well, though, especially as he considers the manner in which writing itself can be an antidote to despair. As he says in one poem, “I’ll write a new ending tonight/ When I stop … before I go.” And in his closing haiku, one reflects on a new angle of the sun that “floods his desk with light.” Another reads that “A new moon emerges from behind the clouds.” These are closely remembered individual memories tied up by definition with our common humanity, as in the Desmond Tutu epigraph: “We can only be human together.” #poetry #trauma #hope #redemption

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Following a BFA-equivalent year at Indiana University, Craig Mindrum won the annual poetry prize competition. His work has been published in Erie Street Press and The Christian Century. He has divided his career between writing, teaching, and business consulting. He has taught at DePaul University Chicago. He is the author of Gardener of Peace and Twelve Virtues. He did his masters work at Yale and Indiana (M.A.) and then received his doctorate at the University of Chicago. He has been a professional writer for more than 30 years

PRAISE:

In sixteen sharply observed poems, Craig Mindrum leads us on a journey through memory, other lives, and, as one poem puts it, “a dyslexia of sorrow.” Yet he senses enough wonder in this world to find himself “like someone waiting for his sight to be restored.” Grateful readers will encounter a poet willing to confront our deepest griefs with honesty, poetic craft, and hope.

–Steven Peterson, author of Walking Trees and Other Poems

The loss of a son, the comfort of another warm body after facing Dachau, a man in recovery, a father’s torturous life. These are some of the gripping stories these poems tell, and we are immediately, totally, powerfully there. Only the most riveting poetry can do this.

–Jill Peláez Baumgaertner, Poetry Editor, The Christian Century

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