During his three years as Indiana’s poet laureate, Matthew Graham visited all corners of the Hoosier State, soaking up its lore.
“I knew it had a rich history in terms of literature, social activism, and arts, but the more I traveled, the more enamored I became with the whole history in that sense,” says Graham, a University of Southern Indiana professor emeritus of English who taught creative writing at USI for 35 years.
Graham’s experiences as poet laureate from 2020 to 2023 influenced his fifth book, “The Indiana Series.” Released in August, the 39-page collection of works centers around Hoosiers who, in some cases, “were more important at one time than now” but “people we shouldn’t forget.”
The easily readable “chapbook” has reflections on 13 notable Hoosiers. The poem “Fairmount” offers these poignant words about legendary actor James Dean, born in Marion:
“It seems that to be immortal in America is to die
Young and beautiful in California
And then to be brought back
To the rich and anonymous soil
Only central Indiana can provide.”
“He was an icon like Marilyn Monroe even though he only did three movies,” Graham says of Dean. “But I don’t think people know he was from Indiana.”
Graham envisions fabled Indiana war correspondent Ernie Pyle’s steps on Omaha Beach on June 7, 1945, the morning after D-Day (“as far from the Heartland as he could get,” Graham writes) and seeing cartons of soggy cigarettes, stationery, and a broken banjo.
“There was some dark and serious stuff he wrote about,” Graham says of Pyle, but “he always looked for the best of humankind, and that was his angle.”
Graham’s book shouts out Indiana artisans such as composer and songwriter Cole Porter — raised in the town of Peru — for “colliding cultures – vaudeville, opera, Jazz – with, well … fun.”
A poem simply titled “Indiana” isn’t a reflection of a person but rather the Hoosier State itself, and it’s a clear nod to Evansville’s large impact on global history and social norms:
“In the town where I live women once built
P-47s in the same factories where men now
Build washing machines. I guess you could say
It’s a town of some irony.”
Graham says “The Indiana Series” strives to present an unvarnished look at the state, and “I’d like people to read it and get a slightly different sense of Indiana and its history.” And the author isn’t done. “I hope there’s more to come,” Graham says. “It’s been suggested I do an ‘Indiana Series, Part Two.’ I’ve also thought of doing a book on places in Indiana.”
“The Indiana Series” is available for purchase at the USI Campus Store and online through Galileo Press.
