20 Jul A Brief History of the Midwest by Andrew Grace
History is really the history of thistle.
Thistle: Pliny’s cure for baldness.
A thistle destroyed by the Norse army
when it pierced the foot of a hidden soldier.
Crest of a kingdom, thistle, the endless.
Thistle cleaves to sheep the color of nicotine.
The farmer knows its language:
Common, Milk, Sow, Star, Blessed.
Prongs of thistles prong the farmer’s crotch.
The seams of the Midwest are stitched by thistle
and a field of thistle hoards its seeds in its chest
until thistledown and finch grift its clutch.
Its morning blossoms are pink as raw salt.
They are shorn and gathered into a pile to burn.
Seeds will spread, borne on carbon to new radii.
Thus the next acreage taken by its thorns.
Thistle and ditch become synonymous.
The hills lay down their shadows like Tarot cards.
The history of the Midwest is written in thorn.
About the Poet
Andrew Grace is the author of the poetry collections A Belonging Field (Salt Publishing), Shadeland (Ohio State University Press) and SANCTA (Ahsahta/Foundlings). His fourth collection A Brief History of the Midwest was published by Black Lawrence Press in May 2025.
His work has appeared in the New Yorker, Poetry, Boston Review and New Criterion. A former Stegner Fellow at Stanford, he is a Senior Editor at the Kenyon Review and teaches at Kenyon College.
Grace was born in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, where his family has farmed for several generations. He studied English literature at Kenyon College in Ohio, and earned his MFA at Washington University in St. Louis. He attended Stanford as a Stegner Fellow, and earned his Doctoral degree from the University of Cincinnati. He now lives in Gambier, Ohio with his wife Tory and their two daughters.
Related Event
- On Saturday, July 26th at 7:30 p.m., Andrew Grace will join poet Kenzie Allen as featured performers at a Just Buffalo Literary Center Silo City Reading Series event also featuring a musical performance by happygroupppp and an installation by visual artist Crystal Z Campbell. Silo City Reading Series events take place in Marine A grain elevator, behind Duende at Silo City, 85 Silo City Row. Doors open at 7 p.m., and the events begin at 7:30 p.m. Books by featured poets in the series will be available for purchase by Buffalo-based bookseller Fitz Books.
The Poem of the Week feature is curated by literary legacy awardee R.D. Pohl.