The Sunshine Mine Disaster is a book of poetry and nonfiction
about the 1972 mining disaster in Kellogg, Idaho, the worst
catastrophe in the state’s history. I would describe my effort in
Sunshine as a form of “witness” poetry, a poetry obviously
grounded in history and politics, but I would also say that the
construction of the book belies any notion that a history, whether
official or personal, is an integrated “thing” to be apprehended
whole. On this matter, I have clearly borrowed a Foucaultian
skepticism about the integrity of confession and witnessing, or in
other terms, a Didionian suspicion about the scaffolding and
certainty of memory. And to confound these post-structuralist
descriptions of my work and aims, I hold a steadfast faith in the
common exchange for poetry: my most meaningful moment as a
poet was my reading at an annual memorial service for the disaster
in Kellogg, Idaho. In that exchange, I discovered what Muriel
Rukeyser meant by “the Life of Poetry.”
To get a sense of the book, you can read its preface, or better,
you can read its final section. For critical assessments of The Sunshine
Mine Disaster, you may
want to view Brendan Galvin’s review of the book that appeared in
Choice magazine or Kevin Walzer’s review
that is on the ELF: Eclectic Literary Forum’s website.
You can order the book directly from the University of Idaho at
1-800-UIPRESS; if you prefer, you can order it electronically via Amazon Books.
