Pantry Staples
The Midwest
In honor of Wes Tirey’s The Midwest Book of the Dead, we asked the Ohio-born musician and poet to share some of his favorite books, music, and shows about or from the Midwest.
Wes Tirey
Songwriter and Poet
Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson
This book is so close to me it’s hard to remember how and when I first came across it. I come back to it and re-read all the stories every year or so. They’re generally pretty odd in that there’s not much of a plot -- you’re kind of just dropped into a character’s interior or situation and then pulled out.
Poemscapes and a Letter to God by Kenneth Patchen
Patchen spent most of his career in San Francisco, but he was an Ohio boy and you can see it in his work. He could be whimsical, comical, and heartbreaking all in one poem. He was also an early practitioner of prose poetry in America, which immediately drew me to his poems. I open up the prose poetry section of my chapbook with one of his poemscapes.
Jesus in New Orleans by Over the Rhine
This one is definitely a bit nostalgic for me. I first heard this back in like 2005 when I was living with my buddy Gabe and his wife at the time. Over the Rhine used to do two night specials every year at this iconic venue in Dayton called Canal St. Tavern where I cut my teeth in the scene there. Never got to see them, which is a shame, but their Ohio record still holds some gems for me.
Silver Nails by Carl Sandburg
Carl Sandburg has a pretty special place in my heart. He was an old school midwestern socialist, an heir to Walt Whitman’s poetic vision of America, a song collector, and a lover of North Carolina (I’ve been to his estate in Flat Rock a number of times -- always to visit the baby goats there). This prose poem is in his book Chicago Poems, and it’s a shame it’s not included in any of the prose poetry anthologies out there.
Damnation
This show was so rad. Somehow it went overlooked, as I’ve never really heard folks talk about it -- but it’s got this kind of Midwest gothic mood to it; a little pulpy, too. One of the main characters is an anarchist preacher who organizes farmer strikes, so I was sold right away.
Pet Milk by Stuart Dybek
Chicago is one of my favorite cities. It has all of the allure of a city but with a Midwestern sensibility. I always feel comfortable there. My buddy Scott turned me on to Stuart Dybek and told me to start with Pet Milk. It’s a real tour de force of a story, and a beautiful end to his collection The Coast of Chicago.
For Today by Jessica Lea Mayfield
Man, what a song and what a voice. She’s from Kent, OH, which I know is way up north in the state -- but this sounds like it’s coming from Cincinnati, singing to Kentucky on the other side of the river.
Leave the City by Magnolia Electric Co.
Jason Molina needs no introduction. I discovered his music when I was at 19 -- such an impressionable age, especially since I had only been writing for a couple years -- so his songs have been really formative over the years. This song always reminds me of home.
