A Time When You Know a House

There is a musical score for all our lives; to our eras, our homes, our cities. Mary Minock orchestrates us into her SW Detroit neighborhood, in the shadow of Holy Redeemer Parish, where "car carriers shudder down streets with canvas draped around their cargos" keeping secret the "newborn models." In these lines are the shops, alleys, railroad tracks, broken glass, the river, the immigrants, the nuns, the father who died too soon, the mother who hoards, hanging on to everything she can. This is a collection of vividly imagistic poems, poems of place that contain "keys to lost locks sticky with stories." These are love poems to this fascinating, diverse neighborhood in a city where you stay because "living here has handed you a burden you cannot drop, given you an edge, good for something you cannot name."-Joy Gaines-Friedler, author of Capture Theory

Minock's poems-at times celebratory, at times elegiac, at times both-capture the essence of a particular era in Detroit, and in America. They offer a sensory cornucopia spiced with grit and heart. She captures the distinctiveness of Detroit in a way that will bring readers everywhere into her world. These poems build on each other to create a rich, complex portrait of a Catholic family in the city. We are in these houses, and on these streets, with Minock as our trusted, compassionate, observant guide. She is a master storyteller who keeps us spellbound in these tight, emotion-packed poems.-Jim Daniels, author of Rowing Inland

Minock provides a sumptuous and poignant coming-of-age narrative in poetry. The collection pieces together a tapestry of mid-20th century life in the neighborhood around Clark Park, not far from the Detroit River, and pulses with the rhythms of factory shift changes, freighter horns, migrations, seasons, and the lives of neighbors of many different descents all "striving for dignity." With a difficult house as a backdrop and metaphor, a little girl grows and learns to find joy and self-awareness despite the early loss of her father, an unpredictable mother, and the "gauntlet of adolescence." As an adult, she witnesses "the decay/of caulk, wood, stone, brick" and neighbors who no longer answer knocks on the door. Yet she chooses "to dwell in Detroit (because) the city admits you to what is lost." Minock's spirit, vulnerability, and a keen eye for detail make this a rewarding and very moving collection. -Terry Blackhawk, author of One Less River