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Coal Mountain Elementary
A singular, genre-defying treatise from one of America’s most innovative political poets, Coal Mountain Elementary remixes verbatim testimony from the surviving Sago, West Virginia miners and rescue teams, the American Coal Foundation’s curriculum for schoolchildren, newspaper accounts of mining disasters in China, and full-color photographs of Chinese miners by renowned photojournalist Ian Teh. A poet and labor activist heralded by Adrienne Rich for “regenerating the rich tradition of working-class literature,” Mark Nowak regularly leads transnational poetry workshops between American and international trade unions. The author of Revenants and Shut Up Shut Down , he is also a frequent contributor to the Poetry Foundation’s Harriet blog.
170 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2009
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April 30, 2009
Coal Mountain Elementary is ostensibly labeled as poetry, but it is also a radical sort of reportage or (and this title has always seemed cumbersome) "creative non-fiction." The book is a selection of photographs by Ian Teh and excerpts from testimonials from the 2006 Sago Mine disaster that killed 12, newspapers covering Chinese mining disasters in 2005 and 2006, and lesson plans prepared by the American Coal Foundation to teach elementary, middle, and high school students about coal, mining, and coal culture. I say that what Nowak does is select and not collage because the units of prose that are excerpted are paragraphs and each excerpt occupies its own page. Collage would suggest more disjunction than seems to be intended and more of an effacing of the source of the collaged material. Compare an excerpt from Nowak's previous book, Shut Up Shut Down--
It was a mill town, he says, singing "mill" with a blend of affection and pity. A trace (far removed): my grandfather stepping off the Clinton Street bus and into a Kaisertown gin mill, Bethlehem Steel (still) scratched across his face. A mill town is not a goddamn residential neighborhood. Loading crates unloaded, oil drums bent and empty, glass shattered (past tense verbs) where the window frames (never/the/less) remain. When I walk on the sidewalk (here, or hear), I know when it's heaving from tree roots.
--to a page in Coal Mountain--
Then after that, we just walked around. I had a family member come and check on me. I walked over to the pit and just stared at the pit for a long time, just hoping to see them walk out.
Here Nowak lets the source interviewees speak more for themselves, for their voices to become fuller. While the first passage reveals all kinds of authorial interventions into the source text and through the friction between the different texts at play leaves the reader with more space to play in and make meaning, Coal Mountain is far more interested in routing its reader to one set of disjunctions, that between one passage and the next--between expressive pictures and the bare bones of lesson plan instructions, between the dramatic arc of testimony in regard to Sago rescue efforts and the flatness of disaster as reported by newspapers. It's tempting to say that Shut Up Shut Down is the more complex text and that Coal Mountain is less complex and more didactic. But it's Coal Mountain's dedication to a singular task that makes it what it is: it wants to tell you through its various strategies that the job of coal mining is frequently deadly, mine owners are negligent, and that there are forces out there that want you to ignore this aspect of the industry. And, perhaps more importantly, through the litany of contemporary Chinese mining disasters sustained over 176 pages, that the exploitation of the labor of miners is an ongoing problem.
Phil Levine is the poet of labor for a number of generations of readers. However, his poems on the working class and the industrial landscape of Detroit are increasingly flooded in a sepia light. As we move forward, the conditions of the laborers in his poems seem more of a thing of the past. Similar poems written from the position of the lyric I further bury labor into the past and as a condition which the writer of the poem has overcome--something that forms a piece of the speaker's narrative. Or, worse, they find equivalences between the labor of writing and the labor of the body. Nowak goes to great lengths to give present the voices of the poems' workers within a narrative that, instead of transcending the state of the heavy-industry worker, leads us to confront its most miserable aspects:
I tried to check everybody's--I checked everybody's pulse. I felt for a pulse. And I think most of them had hemorrhaged, hemorrhaged out, and there was some physical evidence there that you could see. I mean, that I thought, you know, with the hemorrhaging, most of them had hemorrhaged and some of them, there was foam, a lot of foam, and a pulse. They were icy cold. And they appeared to be deceased.
It does seem (as blurbs claim) that Nowak is reactivating another way of writing about work in American poetry and documentary. If you're at all interested in work, documentary, even maybe ethnography(?)/folklife(?) in poetry, this is certainly worth your time.
It was a mill town, he says, singing "mill" with a blend of affection and pity. A trace (far removed): my grandfather stepping off the Clinton Street bus and into a Kaisertown gin mill, Bethlehem Steel (still) scratched across his face. A mill town is not a goddamn residential neighborhood. Loading crates unloaded, oil drums bent and empty, glass shattered (past tense verbs) where the window frames (never/the/less) remain. When I walk on the sidewalk (here, or hear), I know when it's heaving from tree roots.
--to a page in Coal Mountain--
Then after that, we just walked around. I had a family member come and check on me. I walked over to the pit and just stared at the pit for a long time, just hoping to see them walk out.
Here Nowak lets the source interviewees speak more for themselves, for their voices to become fuller. While the first passage reveals all kinds of authorial interventions into the source text and through the friction between the different texts at play leaves the reader with more space to play in and make meaning, Coal Mountain is far more interested in routing its reader to one set of disjunctions, that between one passage and the next--between expressive pictures and the bare bones of lesson plan instructions, between the dramatic arc of testimony in regard to Sago rescue efforts and the flatness of disaster as reported by newspapers. It's tempting to say that Shut Up Shut Down is the more complex text and that Coal Mountain is less complex and more didactic. But it's Coal Mountain's dedication to a singular task that makes it what it is: it wants to tell you through its various strategies that the job of coal mining is frequently deadly, mine owners are negligent, and that there are forces out there that want you to ignore this aspect of the industry. And, perhaps more importantly, through the litany of contemporary Chinese mining disasters sustained over 176 pages, that the exploitation of the labor of miners is an ongoing problem.
Phil Levine is the poet of labor for a number of generations of readers. However, his poems on the working class and the industrial landscape of Detroit are increasingly flooded in a sepia light. As we move forward, the conditions of the laborers in his poems seem more of a thing of the past. Similar poems written from the position of the lyric I further bury labor into the past and as a condition which the writer of the poem has overcome--something that forms a piece of the speaker's narrative. Or, worse, they find equivalences between the labor of writing and the labor of the body. Nowak goes to great lengths to give present the voices of the poems' workers within a narrative that, instead of transcending the state of the heavy-industry worker, leads us to confront its most miserable aspects:
I tried to check everybody's--I checked everybody's pulse. I felt for a pulse. And I think most of them had hemorrhaged, hemorrhaged out, and there was some physical evidence there that you could see. I mean, that I thought, you know, with the hemorrhaging, most of them had hemorrhaged and some of them, there was foam, a lot of foam, and a pulse. They were icy cold. And they appeared to be deceased.
It does seem (as blurbs claim) that Nowak is reactivating another way of writing about work in American poetry and documentary. If you're at all interested in work, documentary, even maybe ethnography(?)/folklife(?) in poetry, this is certainly worth your time.
January 27, 2018
The cover blurb from Howard Zinn points to both the strength and, unfortunately, the weakness of this well-intentioned but ultimately flat book. Nowak's roots lie in the proletarian literature of the 1930s; he's dedicated to shining a light on the abuses of industry and to building international working class solidarity. In Coal Mountain Elementary, that means documenting the horrors of mining accidents--built into the structure of the industry--in both China and the U.S. I'm not sure readers sympathetic to the goal, as I am, will be likely to learn much from it: details, yes, patterns, no. More problematically, the writing lies flat on the page. The voices of testimony testify to truths but don't illuminate them much past the sense of loss and outrage. Obviously don't want to diminish the importance of those realities, but by the time I was half-way through it became difficult to justify the time it was taking (not a huge amount) and that never really hanged. As poetry, it's two star, but it deserves the benefit of the doubt.
March 5, 2014
I understood what this book was trying to do, and the juxtapositions that the author creates by weaving together various texts leaves am strong impression on the reader. However, this book really challenged me to re-think my ideas of 'authorship' and 'poetry.' Each of the three strands present in this book are an selection of source materials that the author had selected and arranged. In that sense, this book is a museum, a collection of voices, that has been carefully curated in order to make a point.
July 20, 2025
This book was technically poetry and I liked the duel perspective of mining in both China and West Virginia, but it was slightly confusing? Also the WV perspective seemed to be an informal interview with a man who kept stopping or stuttering his sentences and the author put everything in which I understand from an artistic standpoint, but as a reader it was incredibly frustrating to read through.
There was also an element of this book that was a curriculum for elementary school students which at times was very thought provoking compared to the stories being told but it also was really confusing. I feel like this tried to do too much so it wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for, BUT, the stories were strong enough that it kept this at a 4 star for me.
There was also an element of this book that was a curriculum for elementary school students which at times was very thought provoking compared to the stories being told but it also was really confusing. I feel like this tried to do too much so it wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for, BUT, the stories were strong enough that it kept this at a 4 star for me.
December 18, 2020
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.
November 16, 2018
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.
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June 22, 2020This month I read Coal Mountain Elementary by Mark Nowak. This book is an exploration of the coal mining industry with an emphasis on the risk, negligence, and disaster that many workers face. It is in the genre of creative nonfiction, including a mixture of poetry, journalism, pictures, and prose. The book has photographs by Ian The, testimonials from the 2006 Sago Mine disaster in West Virginia, newspaper clippings covering Chinese mining disasters in 2005 and 2006, and lesson plans prepared by a non-profit organization to teach children about the coal industry. Rather than putting forward any firm conclusions, the book puts forward a loose collage that provides an emotional connection to the struggles of miners.
I can apply Coal Mountain Elementary to my service most concretely through the curricula included in the book. In my job I am in a position where I am creating curriculum and teaching classes. This book prompted a lot of thought about how social issues become decontextualized when put in the format of a lesson plan. The curricula in this book have activities such as mining for chocolate chips in a chocolate chip cookie to see the profit-loss companies face. To me these lessons starkly juxtaposed the human face of mining, the pride, struggle, and pain that was shown in the other sections of the book. I was left wondering what the role of the human emotions and experiences are when representing a topic in an educational context. Is this human face critical to fully representing a topic such as the mining industry as a lesson? This made me think of human issues surrounding technology, such as trust, and how they could be addressed more effectively when teaching.
Further, this book highlighted some activism that is happening on behalf of miners and their safety. While I knew very little about mining before reading this book and the industry is not directly related to my role at CTEP, I do see a tangential relationship between the struggles of all working people for safe, adequately-paid jobs. At PPL I am a resource for people to find a fulfilling career and improve their circumstances. While I am working at the individual level, I also believe that it is necessary for people to be also working at a structural level on behalf of working people as shown in this book.
I enjoyed this book because it taught me more about a topic I didn’t know a lot about while providing some food for thought around my own work. This book is not very concrete. Most of my frustration with it rests around wanting more information, more context, more explanations. However that would also take away something from the book, as it is a form of art that rests on absorbing the soup of emotions and types of media represented within and forming your own final thoughts.
I can apply Coal Mountain Elementary to my service most concretely through the curricula included in the book. In my job I am in a position where I am creating curriculum and teaching classes. This book prompted a lot of thought about how social issues become decontextualized when put in the format of a lesson plan. The curricula in this book have activities such as mining for chocolate chips in a chocolate chip cookie to see the profit-loss companies face. To me these lessons starkly juxtaposed the human face of mining, the pride, struggle, and pain that was shown in the other sections of the book. I was left wondering what the role of the human emotions and experiences are when representing a topic in an educational context. Is this human face critical to fully representing a topic such as the mining industry as a lesson? This made me think of human issues surrounding technology, such as trust, and how they could be addressed more effectively when teaching.
Further, this book highlighted some activism that is happening on behalf of miners and their safety. While I knew very little about mining before reading this book and the industry is not directly related to my role at CTEP, I do see a tangential relationship between the struggles of all working people for safe, adequately-paid jobs. At PPL I am a resource for people to find a fulfilling career and improve their circumstances. While I am working at the individual level, I also believe that it is necessary for people to be also working at a structural level on behalf of working people as shown in this book.
I enjoyed this book because it taught me more about a topic I didn’t know a lot about while providing some food for thought around my own work. This book is not very concrete. Most of my frustration with it rests around wanting more information, more context, more explanations. However that would also take away something from the book, as it is a form of art that rests on absorbing the soup of emotions and types of media represented within and forming your own final thoughts.
July 2, 2024
Mark Nowak’s Coal Mountain Elementary is documentary poetics project that juxtaposes news reports of coal mining deaths in China, testimonies of mining deaths in West Virginia, and lesson plans on coal mining for schools; and photographs of miners, mining towns, and more.
Together, the text’s four modes of information evoke significant harms done by a global industry and ideological means by which those harms are perpetuated (in the name of profit).
By simply juxtaposing lesson plans, reports, testimonies, and photos, Nowak (like Hughes’ “Johannesburg Mines”) resists poeticizing the content, while at the same time allowing the documentary poetics project to do what they do, as Louise Kertesz puts it when talking about Rukeyser’s Book of the Dead, “the poetic extension of the document.” In this way, Nowak resists being heavy-handed and didactic, allowing for readers to engage with the content uniquely, and to reach what conclusions the text conditions on their own.
Reading, I found myself growing numb to the reports and testimonies at times, which seems to mimic how easily tragedies like those presented can overwhelm, which led me to feel a different kind of discomfort, a kind of discomfort with myself for feeling numb about what I was reading, which I can’t help but read as a powerful effect of the book’s given form.
Together, the text’s four modes of information evoke significant harms done by a global industry and ideological means by which those harms are perpetuated (in the name of profit).
By simply juxtaposing lesson plans, reports, testimonies, and photos, Nowak (like Hughes’ “Johannesburg Mines”) resists poeticizing the content, while at the same time allowing the documentary poetics project to do what they do, as Louise Kertesz puts it when talking about Rukeyser’s Book of the Dead, “the poetic extension of the document.” In this way, Nowak resists being heavy-handed and didactic, allowing for readers to engage with the content uniquely, and to reach what conclusions the text conditions on their own.
Reading, I found myself growing numb to the reports and testimonies at times, which seems to mimic how easily tragedies like those presented can overwhelm, which led me to feel a different kind of discomfort, a kind of discomfort with myself for feeling numb about what I was reading, which I can’t help but read as a powerful effect of the book’s given form.
November 7, 2019
Absolutely loved the play on and relation to elementary lessons on coal mining. Great personal and reporting accounts of issues in the industry, both in the US and China. As Howard Zinn states, "a tribute to miners and working people everywhere."
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August 27, 2020I didn't find the form particularly illuminating. Left me feeling like a cold fish flapping. People interviewed say what you expect them to say when something awful happens. Statistics remain statistics. I dunno.
May 23, 2022
eh. not my kind of book. read for class, which can't have helped, but it would not have been better had i read it outside of that honestly. i'm really surprised i chose it for a research paper cause it's so not up my alley at all
July 7, 2018
3.5 stars
April 7, 2019
This book is so good and so sad. I would definitely recommend it. I read it in one sitting.
January 16, 2021
3 1/2 stars
January 19, 2021
Gut-wrenching, infuriating, compassionate. I don’t know who gives this less than 5 stars.
October 12, 2022
Incredibly depressing, yet gripping in its raw truth.
November 28, 2023
Very repetitive in my opinion
July 5, 2010
Twas a quick quick read. Also a rather depressing one. The last article is that of a suicide, two suicides actually. This ending is typical of many of these artsy, wake-up kind of books and while it succeeds in getting me pissed and angry and interested, it doesn't do anything constructive with that anger which bothers me. Painting a picture is good. Painting a depressing picture is important when shitty stuff is happening in the world. But leaving us to only feel overwhelmed, depressed and hopeless is not constructive and doesn't help any cause very well.
On my way from GA to Jamestown, NY I spent a night in Charleston, WV. There I attended a party full of those youthful activist types and had some great conversations. A consistently breached subject was coal... from mountaintop removal, to safety, to the "big lie of clean coal" a lot of coal was discussed.
With those discussions still knockin' around my noggin as I rolled into Jamestown, I found myself discussing them and Jenny recommended this book to me. I found it painted a very good picture- a portrait of coal-mining disasters. I guess, beyond the book not providing any constructive conclusions, I just wish it was a little more complete and that it covered more angles.
It very cleverly juxtaposes three things: news reports from coal mine disasters in China (which apparently happen constantly and kill many thousands every year), verbatim firsthand accounts of a coalmine disaster in WV, and the lesson plans of three lessons in a non-profit organization's curriculum for WV coal-mining towns' K-8 students.
Perhaps most telling were the lesson plans. I feel like the other descriptions were used to wrench your guts and provide a context for what's being taught to kids in these towns. And I'm guessing they're assuming you'll conclude that there's a great deal of misinformation and assimilation going on- brainwashing if you will of these kids, to help perpetuate the business-serving, human-exploiting coal-mining industry.
My issue though, is that in the simplistic approach only 3 lesson plans are used. It is not explained who funds or runs the non-profit and it does not explain the typical approach of the teachers which teach the curriculum. So while one can obviously see that the lessons overlook some pretty hefty issues by instructing kids to "mine for chocolate chips in their cookies" as a way of learning the profit-loss agenda of coal companies, it isn't clear what else is being taught or how it's all being taught.
I also thought a very interesting contrast was shown between the Chinese and American stories. The WV accounts were all of one disaster, all firsthand. The accounts from China were all news reports and covered a barrage of disasters over a year's time. I wonder how much different or maybe how similar the stories would seem if the accounts were given from the opposite perspectives. Are the Chinese more prepared, more desensitized to coal disasters because it happens so frequently and on such a mass scale? Are Americans taking for granted that we have such rare occurrences. Are Chinese companies covering up more than American ones?
I could go on but for now I don't have time. It's a valuable read but in some ways it frustrated me. I'd certainly love to discuss the book or coal mining in general with anyone who wants to.
Maybe it's my current mood, but art such as this that functions solely as a depiction bothers me twofold. It has the chance to function as (and often does) very biased propaganda that only perpetuates the dangerous and destructive cycle of misinformation. It also seems like a possibly lazy, but at least non-constructive way to pull at heartstrings and get people upset (perhaps, dare I say it, to sell copies or just to ease one's confused and overwhelmed conscience) without providing them a balanced context or a good springboard to do anything valuable with everything that they have good reason to be upset about and want to change. I hope this book doesn't only do what it could to some, which is extend the stagnancy so common in individual's feeling angry with no outlet, feeling helpless against big issues and big companies.
On my way from GA to Jamestown, NY I spent a night in Charleston, WV. There I attended a party full of those youthful activist types and had some great conversations. A consistently breached subject was coal... from mountaintop removal, to safety, to the "big lie of clean coal" a lot of coal was discussed.
With those discussions still knockin' around my noggin as I rolled into Jamestown, I found myself discussing them and Jenny recommended this book to me. I found it painted a very good picture- a portrait of coal-mining disasters. I guess, beyond the book not providing any constructive conclusions, I just wish it was a little more complete and that it covered more angles.
It very cleverly juxtaposes three things: news reports from coal mine disasters in China (which apparently happen constantly and kill many thousands every year), verbatim firsthand accounts of a coalmine disaster in WV, and the lesson plans of three lessons in a non-profit organization's curriculum for WV coal-mining towns' K-8 students.
Perhaps most telling were the lesson plans. I feel like the other descriptions were used to wrench your guts and provide a context for what's being taught to kids in these towns. And I'm guessing they're assuming you'll conclude that there's a great deal of misinformation and assimilation going on- brainwashing if you will of these kids, to help perpetuate the business-serving, human-exploiting coal-mining industry.
My issue though, is that in the simplistic approach only 3 lesson plans are used. It is not explained who funds or runs the non-profit and it does not explain the typical approach of the teachers which teach the curriculum. So while one can obviously see that the lessons overlook some pretty hefty issues by instructing kids to "mine for chocolate chips in their cookies" as a way of learning the profit-loss agenda of coal companies, it isn't clear what else is being taught or how it's all being taught.
I also thought a very interesting contrast was shown between the Chinese and American stories. The WV accounts were all of one disaster, all firsthand. The accounts from China were all news reports and covered a barrage of disasters over a year's time. I wonder how much different or maybe how similar the stories would seem if the accounts were given from the opposite perspectives. Are the Chinese more prepared, more desensitized to coal disasters because it happens so frequently and on such a mass scale? Are Americans taking for granted that we have such rare occurrences. Are Chinese companies covering up more than American ones?
I could go on but for now I don't have time. It's a valuable read but in some ways it frustrated me. I'd certainly love to discuss the book or coal mining in general with anyone who wants to.
Maybe it's my current mood, but art such as this that functions solely as a depiction bothers me twofold. It has the chance to function as (and often does) very biased propaganda that only perpetuates the dangerous and destructive cycle of misinformation. It also seems like a possibly lazy, but at least non-constructive way to pull at heartstrings and get people upset (perhaps, dare I say it, to sell copies or just to ease one's confused and overwhelmed conscience) without providing them a balanced context or a good springboard to do anything valuable with everything that they have good reason to be upset about and want to change. I hope this book doesn't only do what it could to some, which is extend the stagnancy so common in individual's feeling angry with no outlet, feeling helpless against big issues and big companies.
September 27, 2023
Very sad but a very eye-opening piece of literature that speaks the truth of what happens across the world, down in the coal mines.
February 26, 2017
Snippets from coal mining tragedies in China and the U.S. It seems like the industry is plagued with inept leadership and greed. This is dangerous work and lives are on the line. Profits can't be measured without subtracting lives lost and debilitating diseases induced on the miners who put their well-being in jeopardy for our "cheap" energy pipedream. China evidently has lost control or simply wants no control over this industry. Apparently the production of coal is the bottom line necessity, no matter what the cost in terms of human lives. Utterly an embarrassment!
August 20, 2009
I really, really wanted to like this book more -- especially after being bowled over by "Shut Up Shut Down." But, for me, the piece just didn't fully gel.
The text alternates long quotations from Chinese newspaper article about mine disasters, with testimony from the Sago mine disaster, with photographs taken both in West Virginia and China, with school lessons put together by coal industry advocates. And while it seemed a smart way to break up the text, it ended up with the feel of a loose collage. Moreover, the pre-processed tone of the news articles and the length at which they were quoted sucked a lot of the energy from the piece, I thought.
The series of poems on the air traffic controllers' strike in the other book was interwoven in a much more interesting way.
Ultimately, I came away wishing Nowak had pushed the texts beyond themselves and/or transformed with other tools in his poetic toolbox.
The text alternates long quotations from Chinese newspaper article about mine disasters, with testimony from the Sago mine disaster, with photographs taken both in West Virginia and China, with school lessons put together by coal industry advocates. And while it seemed a smart way to break up the text, it ended up with the feel of a loose collage. Moreover, the pre-processed tone of the news articles and the length at which they were quoted sucked a lot of the energy from the piece, I thought.
The series of poems on the air traffic controllers' strike in the other book was interwoven in a much more interesting way.
Ultimately, I came away wishing Nowak had pushed the texts beyond themselves and/or transformed with other tools in his poetic toolbox.
July 9, 2009
Nowak translates the resolve of his daily activism on behalf of working people into art in all three of his books of poetry, Shut Up, Shut Down, Revenants, and his most recent book, Coal Mountain Elementary. Deceptively simple, Coal Mountain Elementary combines photographs, newspaper articles, eyewitness testimony, and parts of an elementary school curriculum to relay the human consequences of coal mining. The book reveals how people across the globe are daily dehumanized to support an unsustainable level of consumption. Nowak’s poetry lies in the arrangement of the book as whole – fragments of testimony demand that we witness the devastation of human life in the interest of mining and profit.
The rest of my review can be found here:
http://blogthisrock.blogspot.com/2009...
The rest of my review can be found here:
http://blogthisrock.blogspot.com/2009...
October 16, 2012
I've read this book twice, and it still has its grip on me. Nowak has done some remarkable work creating poetry from official documents/interviews/photographs/found texts in other books, but COAL MOUNTAIN ELEMENTARY is his masterwork so far, in my opinion. The interplay among the news stories from China (regarding a series of horrific mining accidents over a few months in 2005-6), the edited transcripts of testimony from the Sago Mine explosion in the U.S., and the "school assignments" designed by the coal lobby for American children is heart-rending. Yet the book goes beyond powerful sentiment toward an exploration of loss and fractured community that resonates far outside its pages. A must-read for those interested in art and its political voice.
October 11, 2009
Coal Mountain Elementary is one of those books I really want to write about, but have a hard time doing so. It’s not so much a book of poetry, but a collage of words and photographs. The book is a collection of reports and mini-memoirs of mining disasters in China juxtaposed against the memories of those involved in the Sago Mine Disaster here in the United States. Nowak also includes poems based on lesson plans involving coal mining history and communities. Regular readers of this blog know my fascination and allegiance to workingclass people. Coal mining, of course, is part of this world. I used to pride myself on my knowledge of coal mining, but Nowak’s book humbled me.
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December 10, 2012WOW!!!! I took a workshop on writing collage text and the instructor recommended this book that uses "found" language. As someone who collects found objects, I immediately ordered and read this book--in one sitting. The mixture of court transcript, news coverage, and a children's text book is pure poetry. And profound!
I immediately wanted everyone else to read it too.
I immediately wanted everyone else to read it too.
March 5, 2013
This book had me at its design. It overlays a coal mining community´s school math curriculum with excerpts from news clippings of coal mining disasters in China, along with more detailed reports of a coal mining disaster in the US. Powerful material each in their own right, but the juxtapositioning layers nuance along with the powerfully emotive history of tragedies that encompass coal mining.
January 11, 2010
i liked the simple layout, the free form presentation that was more questioning than accusing. an excellent subject though, coal mining workers in u.s. and china, their work, their families, their deaths, the industry.
December 5, 2012
Orchestrated rather than written--a collection of accounts, with photographs, testimonies and newspaper clippings, along with lesson plans, contrasting, calling attention to privilege and deep neglect.
September 10, 2014
documentary poetry exposing/looking at the coal mining industry utilizing media clips and personal testimonies and excerpts from lessons for grade-schoolers intended to teach them about mining
March 31, 2016
Finished this yesterday, still ruminating, still a lot to think about. The form was thought provoking, the content shattering.
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