Love in the Upstairs Flat

"Mary Minock's Love in the Upstairs Flat is at once a celebration of memory and of witness. It is a hymn to growing up in blue-collar Detroit, whose life blood, like the Detroit River, enables her to weave the "sonic thread' of her poems into acceptance and affirmation of self. Indeed, Ms. Minock echoes Whitman's expansive joy in the celebration of ordinary life, and what she presents us with is an extraordinary volume of poetry." - Phil Klukoff

"Minock's 'Upstairs" is one of those works which invokes the past without being maudlin, or pompously esoteric, or flashy without substance. . . . The moments which Minock creates in more than a few of her poems are poignant, yet universally enriching. . . . fresh, thorough and meaningful." -- Ralph Story

". . . allows readers the opportunity to explore their own personal and cultural origins as the poet works through hers. That she does so without sentimentality attests to her keen intellect; that she likewise avoids sterility or bitterness is a tribute to her humor and compassion. . . . a voice that achieves lyricism as well as toughness, due to a mutually enhancing fit between content and form in the work. . . . In a nutshell, Minock's poems give her readers a deeper meaning to their own lives through a rare combination of grit, wit, and grace." - Anne J. Mullin

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