The Sunshine Mine Disaster: A Book of Poetry [Paperback]

James Brock (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 74 pages
• Publisher: Caxton Press (January 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0893011819
• ISBN-13: 978-0893011819
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,940,220 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

James Brock is an American poet, born in Boise, Idaho. He is best known for his eclectic poetry, ranging from New York School inspired experiments to formal verse and narrative poems. He received his M.F.A. and Ph.D. from Indiana University, and he currently is a full Professor of English at Florida Gulf Coast University. His earlier life saw him in various odd jobs such as grocery produce clerk, roofer at a trailer factory, a bear field researcher, and a librarian.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An original voice connecting poetry back with real life, August 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Sunshine Mine Disaster: A Book of Poetry (Paperback)

Brock's Sunshine Mine Disaster is a fantastic series of poems mingled with other life documents--a truly original and exciting reading experience. With this collection, Brock drags poetry out of the darkness of MFA-approved academic boredom and into the light of life, death and transcendence. The poems themselves remind me of DH Lawrence in subject and scope. A major addition to contemporary poetry and literature.

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Misleading Title, April 21, 2006

By 

Mucker - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Sunshine Mine Disaster: A Book of Poetry (Paperback)

For those customers who are buying other books, such as The Deep Dark, that deal specifically with the Sunshine Mine fire or with other mine disasters, Amazon inappropriately "suggests" The Sunshine Mine Disaster for purchase. I, for one, was looking for serious history, not a collection of poetry. Let this serve as a warning to prospective buyers. Shame on Amazon for conflating these poems with nonfiction works based on painstaking research into a great and terrible tragedy.

5.0 out of 5 stars American poetry could use a lot more of what SMD has., September 30, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Sunshine Mine Disaster: A Book of Poetry (Paperback)

Brock combines original poetry with various historical documents to depict events, real and imagined, surrounding the 1972 Idaho silver mine explosion, which killed 91 men. The result is an exciting tour de force, which the author modestly calls "an example of life-writing" rather than a book-length poem with epic tendencies. Brock invents the persona of the miner Dan Taylor through which to view the disaster, even to the extent of creating a fourth grade report Taylor wrote-"The Rainbow Trout in Idaho." Other perspectives, real and imagined, unfold as the poem moves toward its final section, a moving prayer uttered by the entombed Taylor. Along the way the reader encounters tragedy, irony, even comedy, in the actions of the mine owners, various authorities, victims, and their families. Brock's knowledge of mines and their technical vocabulary is extensive and superbly woven into the poem. American poetry could use a lot more of what The Sunshine Mine Disaster has. Highest recommendation for all readership levels. --from Choice Magazine, June 1996