The mountains of West Virginia are filled with tons of coal which were needed to fuel the industrialization of the United States. The removal of the coal required a huge workforce as coal miners were forced to dig deeper and deeper into the ground to access the coal. Diane Gilliam Fisher’s poem, “Explosion at Winco No. 9”, showcases the emotional toll on a miner’s family. The families of the West Virginia coal miners lived with the knowledge that each morning might be the last time a wife kissed her husband goodbye, the last time a father held his children or the last time the family had a chance to express their love for each other. The emotional strain on the miners’ wives is illustrated when Diane Gilliam Fisher writes “It is true that it
