Recycled Composition Mysticism, by Christina Minich

Poetry, chapbook, 28 pages, from Bottlecap Features. Deeply influenced by comparative religious studies, this long-form poem deals with spirituality as reality. Grappling with themes of life, death and uncertainty, Minich challenges the notion that any human perspective has complete hold of the truth. She asserts the presence of mystery inherent in our entangled existence and acknowledges love as a force capable of bridging the seen and the unseen. Minich’s free-verse dances like Kerouac advised, moving between academic and mystical perspectives like an irreverent jazz quartet caught in the flow of a moment. Her voice can pierce or soothe like the forgotten goddesses she references alongside Lao Tzu and J.Z. Smith. She creates a foundation where multiple worldviews can coexist, but it will cost us our unquestioned perspectives. Christina Minich has a master’s in religious studies with a focus on Native American ways of knowing. She has taught in high school and collegiate settings and currently lives with the Elk, Salmon and Redwoods in coastal mountains that were islands before Pangaea formed. She tries to embody the archetype of J.B. Fletcher but she’s too feral to pull it off.