Based on the historical and social events of the West Virginia coal mine wars of 1920-1921, Kettle Bottom imagines the stories of miners, their wives, children, sisters, and mothers; of mountaineers, Italian immigrants, and Black families. These people organized for safe working conditions in opposition to the mine company owners and their agents. Fisher listened closely and the result is a book of vivid, rhythmic, heartfelt poems that address a violent time with honesty, levity, and compassion. Kettle Bottom is about how a community lived in the presence of constant danger and the choices the residents made. These are people to look to today.
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"American poetry is the larger for this extraordinary book." -- Eleanor Wilner
"Fisher probes the truth of coal camp history, then holds its darkness in the light of her brilliant lines." -- Joyce Dyer
"Fisher probes the truth of coal camp history, then holds its darkness in the light of her brilliant lines." -- Joyce Dyer
About the Author
Diane Gilliam Fisher’s family was part of the Appalachian outmigration from Mingo County, West Virginia, and Johnson County, Kentucky. Fisher has a PhD in Romance Languages and Literature from Ohio State University and an MFA from the Warren Wilson Program for Writers. Her first book, One of Everything, was published by Cleveland State University Poetry Center in 2003, and her chapbook, Recipe for Blackberry Cake, was published by Kent State University Press in 1999. Fisher lives in Brimfield, Ohio, with her husband and two daughters.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Magnificent,
By mattiemae (texas) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Kettle Bottom (Paperback)
What Diane Gilliam Fisher has accomplished in her collection of poems, Kettle Bottom, is rare. Hard hard stories told in the softest of voices. In the same way a whisper commands our attention when a normal voice would not, Fisher's tales stop and tempt and hold us.
I don't believe poetry books are to be read in one sitting. It is hard for me to digest them all. I read. I absorb. I read. I absorb. But with Fisher's book, I find it hard to wait. I have to pick it up again, and listen to the next whisper.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Kettle Bottom,
This review is from: Kettle Bottom (Paperback)
Brilliant use of language and dialect. Respectful of the people she's telling stories about. She records accurate history through magnificent storytelling. I could not put it down and read it straight through, blood and heartbeat rising with each turn of the page. "Raven Light" absolutely haunts.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very moving,
By nhopps (Hinton, WV United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Kettle Bottom (Paperback)
This book is beautifully written, with such poignancy and description that you can't help but be touched by the lives of the people of this coal-mining area and era. Certain passages bring tears to your eyes and instill strength in your soul.
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