The Daily Glance
Mark Nowak's Coal Mountain Elementary defies typical poetry classifications. It's a combination of Ian Teh's and Mark Nowak's photographs of miners/the mining world, a school curriculum, bits of news language about coal disasters, and poetry. In fact, it's hard to tell what sections Nowak wrote and what sections he borrowed. Ultimately, this book is an experience that brings the reader into the realm of coal mining. It gives us voices, images, and stories to help us understand the process and its lingering results. I don't know of anyone else who could manage this type of nuanced but grounded book the way that Nowak does. It's political but human. It doesn't push us into a reaction but shows us what is there. It's a poetic documentary on a scale unseen currently in U.S. poetry.
Mark Nowak's Coal Mountain Elementary defies typical poetry classifications. It's a combination of Ian Teh's and Mark Nowak's photographs of miners/the mining world, a school curriculum, bits of news language about coal disasters, and poetry. In fact, it's hard to tell what sections Nowak wrote and what sections he borrowed. Ultimately, this book is an experience that brings the reader into the realm of coal mining. It gives us voices, images, and stories to help us understand the process and its lingering results. I don't know of anyone else who could manage this type of nuanced but grounded book the way that Nowak does. It's political but human. It doesn't push us into a reaction but shows us what is there. It's a poetic documentary on a scale unseen currently in U.S. poetry.
Comments