The Berkeley Pit

Harry's first poem describes his nightmare, the Berkeley Pit, which, in 1962, gouged the heart out of his hometown, Butte, Montana. The pit mine's namesake, Berkeley, California becomes his dream of hope. He arrives there in the late 1960s as political turmoil and hope reach a peak, from which many dreams tumble, including Harry's. Back in Montana, he cherishes his dream of what his life might have been. But, twenty years later, when he manages to get back to Berkeley, he can hardly recognize the city of his old hopes and dreams. His determination to accept and overcome new challenges may not be enough. Dorothy Bryant draws on her family history in Montana, on her lifetime of living and writing in the Bay Area, and on meticulously researched history. With characteristic irony, compassion, and honesty, Bryant weaves these elements into another of her unrelenting accounts of good intentions, high hopes, mixed motives, unpredictable consequences and lessons learned or denied.


Genre: Historical