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miyueno's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
4.25
I did a class on this book!
laurelinwonder's review against another edition
4.0
Finished this yesterday, still ruminating, still a lot to think about. The form was thought provoking, the content shattering.
pearseanderson's review against another edition
3.0
I read this for class, Documentary Poetry class, and liked it some but not as much as the previous industrial accident documentary chapbook we read. Oh boy. This book did a lot of things but did not get me as emotional as previous readings, hence the star rating. Take care now. I will go to Mark Nowak's reading next week.
waitingformypenguin's review against another edition
5.0
This book is so good and so sad. I would definitely recommend it. I read it in one sitting.
pturnbull's review
4.0
A strange collection of found poems, prose poems (maybe), rewritten news articles, and uncaptioned photographs taken in West Virginia and China. This book will play with your notion of genre, though, interestingly, poetry is not mentioned on the softcover or on the title page. Only the cataloging-in-publication information calls this "new and selected poems" in its subtitle. Perhaps there was a late-minute editorial decision to omit the poetry label?
Content is organized around the three lessons, based on plans developed by the American Coal Foundation and reformatted with line breaks to make them resemble poems. They lack a lyric quality, though aspects of Nowak's selections are telling, and support an overall impression that the coal industry is ruthless in its pursuits, unconcerned about the impact on humans. These impacts are amply supported by news articles detailing coal mining accidents and loss of life in China. They probably also resemble the situation of coal miners in pre-United Mines Workers days in West Virginia. The attempts of the mines to cover-up the accidents, to delay rescue, and what I found most revolting, to hide the bodies (and not inform their next of kin of the miners' deaths?), is facilitated by an industrial culture without sufficient regulation (read it--and then see what you think about adopting China's practices here).
I am most familiar with the Sago Mine Disaster, as I lived in the state of West Virginia at the time. The excerpts were taken from testimony. The voices are utterly compelling. What I learned from these accounts I do not want to mention, only to say that I have a better understanding of what it was like for the men trapped in the mine than I did before.
The book is illustrated by excellent photos. In particular, I enjoyed seeing those taken in West Virginia. Anyone interested in coal mining or labor history will find this book worthwhile, regardless as to whether or not there are poems within.
Content is organized around the three lessons, based on plans developed by the American Coal Foundation and reformatted with line breaks to make them resemble poems. They lack a lyric quality, though aspects of Nowak's selections are telling, and support an overall impression that the coal industry is ruthless in its pursuits, unconcerned about the impact on humans. These impacts are amply supported by news articles detailing coal mining accidents and loss of life in China. They probably also resemble the situation of coal miners in pre-United Mines Workers days in West Virginia. The attempts of the mines to cover-up the accidents, to delay rescue, and what I found most revolting, to hide the bodies (and not inform their next of kin of the miners' deaths?), is facilitated by an industrial culture without sufficient regulation (read it--and then see what you think about adopting China's practices here).
I am most familiar with the Sago Mine Disaster, as I lived in the state of West Virginia at the time. The excerpts were taken from testimony. The voices are utterly compelling. What I learned from these accounts I do not want to mention, only to say that I have a better understanding of what it was like for the men trapped in the mine than I did before.
The book is illustrated by excellent photos. In particular, I enjoyed seeing those taken in West Virginia. Anyone interested in coal mining or labor history will find this book worthwhile, regardless as to whether or not there are poems within.
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