Six O'Clock Mine Report

by Irene McKinney

From a celebration of birds to a first-person account of Mary Shelley's miscarriage, McKinney ( The Girl with the Stone in Her Lap ) reveals an impressive range in subject and tone of voice. Sometimes she simply takes notice of the world in all its beauty, oddity and humor, as in a scene from "Potts Farms, Summer 1955": "Aunt Floss is baking bread and laughing, / clacking her false teeth"; elsewhere her observations shed light on the observer. "Starlings in the walls at night" suggest the discord within the narrator ("my feet / chilling on the bare boards, birds in my blood, on my hair") while the speaker's nonchalant tone and the ordinary images depicted in "Pike County Breakdown" make the poem all the more frightening. Some readers may find the central sequence of poems spoken by Emily Dickinson less convincing, and McKinney's evenness of emotional pitch enervates and frustrates at times. But this collection contains writing that intrigues and disturbs.

Genres: Poetry

48 pages, Hardcover

First published April 15, 1989

Reviews

[Ron Mohring · Rating 4 out of 5]

You may want to cut them down. You may want to use a knife.
["Chrysanthemums"]

The narrow benches we don't fit.
The wasps at the blue hexagons.
["Sunday Morning, 1950"]

One of us is always burning.
["Deep Mining"]

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my vote for Irene's best book. I love the poem about spreading out luxuriously spreading out in her own grave plot plus the one of her former husband. That's living life and making the best of a bad situation!

The title poem resonates with anyone that is either from or spent significant time in West Virginia. The terminology is especially close to my heart; it makes me think of growing up as a truck driver's son.

[Phillip · Rating 4 out of 5]

McKinney is a major force in WV and Appalachian poetry, with a great way of setting scenes and using vivid imagery to convey meaning. She draws heavily on nature imagery alongside domestic and mining/industrial imagery, which simultaneously creates strong contrasts and a complex picture of WV life.
https://youtu.be/94nkP2qhf4M

[Nigel Atchley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having had the privilege of taking a writing course from Irene when in Bellingham, WA. I found her poetry to speak from the soul. You can almost taste the earth with her words and cadence.