Working Classics: POEMS ON INDUSTRIAL LIFE (Paperback)

by Peter Oresick (Editor), Nicholas Coles (Editor) "The secretaries drive by the factory..." (more)
Key Phrases: sweet will, Cherry Street, Don Compo

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
So many foremen show so many workers how to do something "like this" in this book that after a while the phrase takes on a terrifying regularity, for these poems are about work: the hard, monotonous kind that changes people for the worse and makes ghosts of them. Almost all of these characters try to have a real life away from the job site, but they're never quite successful: one woman finds refuge in her partner's arms, but as she says, "big husband dead thirty years now." There are 169 poems here by 74 fine poets; one hopes at least a few bosses will read them.
- David Kirby, Florida State Univ., Tallahassee
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review
Night Shift At The Plating Division Of Keeler Brass by James B. Allen
Jonas by Catherine Anderson
Womanhood by Catherine Anderson
Among Elms And Maples, Morgantown, West Virginia, Aug. 1935 by Maggie Anderson
Gray by Maggie Anderson
Mining Camp Residents, West Virginia, July, 1935 by Maggie Anderson
Factory: 10 by Antler [pseud.]
Factory: 2 by Antler [pseud.]
Factory: 3 by Antler [pseud.]
Late News by Richard A. Blessing
Condition Of The Working Classes: 1960 by Robert Bly
Condition Of The Working Classes: 1970 by Robert Bly
Factory Work by Deborah Boe
Two Pictures Of My Grandparents: 1914 by Joseph Bruchac
Bobbie by David Budbill
Old Man Pike by David Budbill
Roy Mcinnes: The Man by David Budbill
Roy Mcinnes: The Shop. Part 1 by David Budbill
Roy Mcinnes: The Shop. Part 2 by David Budbill
Roy Mcinnes: The Truck by David Budbill
Cannery Town In August by Lorna Dee Cervantes
Visiting My Father In Florida by David Citino
Golden Gloves, Beckley, West Virgina by Mary Joan Coleman
Martha by Brenda Connor-bey
Galena, Kansas by Victor Contoski
4th Of July In The Factory by Jim Daniels
After Work by Jim Daniels
Digger Goes On Vacation by Jim Daniels
Factory Jungle by Jim Daniels
Factory Love by Jim Daniels
Hard Times In The Motor City by Jim Daniels
Still Lives In Detroit: #2, Parking Lot, Ford Sterling Plant by Jim Daniels
Self-portrait With Politics by Kate Daniels
Father Finds A Job In America by James Den Boer
Consumers, 1965 by Patricia Dobler
Field Trip To The Rolling Mill, 1950 by Patricia Dobler
Lessons by Patricia Dobler
The Mill In Winter, 1939 by Patricia Dobler
My Father's Story, 1932 by Patricia Dobler
The Rope by Patricia Dobler
Steel Poem, 1912 by Patricia Dobler
Uncle Rudy Explains The Events Of 1955 by Patricia Dobler
Uncles' Advice, 1957 by Patricia Dobler
Hard Work 1956 by Stephen Elliott Dunn
Numbers by Harley Elliott
In Coal by Mary Elizabeth Fell
Not Working by Mary Elizabeth Fell
Out-of-luck, Massachusetts by Mary Elizabeth Fell
Picket Line In Autumn by Mary Elizabeth Fell
The Triangle Fire: Among The Dead by Mary Elizabeth Fell
The Triangle Fire: Asch Building by Mary Elizabeth Fell
The Triangle Fire: Cortege by Mary Elizabeth Fell
The Triangle Fire: Havdallah by Mary Elizabeth Fell
The Triangle Fire: Industrialist's Dream by Mary Elizabeth Fell
The Triangle Fire: Personal Effects by Mary Elizabeth Fell
The Triangle Fire: The Witness by Mary Elizabeth Fell
The Women Who Clean Fish by Erica (erika) Funkhouser
3 A.m. Kitchen: My Father Talking by Tess Gallagher
Black Money by Tess Gallagher
A Photo Of Miners Usa, 1908 by Brendan James Galvin
Ice Cream Factory by Gary Gildner
An Unemployed Machinist by John Giorno
He Was When He Died by Alice Wirth Gray
The Foundations Of American Industry by Donald Hall
Machinist by Charles George Hanzlicek
Polaroid by Charles George Hanzlicek
A Tool Maker by Charles George Hanzlicek
The Day After I Quit by Gwen Hauser
One Day The Sand-machine by Gwen Hauser
Printing Press No. 17 by Gwen Hauser
Factories by Edward Hirsch
The Sweatshop Poem by Edward Hirsch
Driving Through Coal Country In Pennsylvania by Jonathan Holden
Degrees Of Gray In Philipsburg by Richard Hugo
The Milltown Union Bar by Richard Hugo
The Boss by David Ignatow
The Gentle Weight Lifter by David Ignatow
Get The Gasworks by David Ignatow
The Paper Cutter by David Ignatow
The Aesthetics Of Line Work by Todd Jailer
Bill Hastings by Todd Jailer
Chester Gleason by Todd Jailer
Paul Haber by Todd Jailer
Randall Holmes by Todd Jailer
Time And A Half by Todd Jailer
From America: A Poem In Process by June Jordan
Between Us by Lawrence Joseph
Fog by Lawrence Joseph
I Had No More To Say by Lawrence Joseph
In The Tenth Year Of War by Lawrence Joseph
Is It You? by Lawrence Joseph
Nothing And No One And Nowhere To Go by Lawrence Joseph
Cuba by Lawrence (larry) Michael Kearney
Father Answers His Adversaries by Lawrence (larry) Michael Kearney
K Mart by Lawrence (larry) Michael Kearney
There Are 23 Steel Mills In Buffalo, N.y. by Lawrence (larry) Michael Kearney
Contract Miners by Edward T. Lahey
Contributor's Note by Edward T. Lahey
Kelley Shaft Ceremony by Edward T. Lahey
Working: The Egg Keeper by Miriam Levine
Coming Home, Detroit, 1968 by Philip Levine
Detroit Grease Shop Poem by Philip Levine
The Everlasting Sunday by Philip Levine
Fist by Philip Levine
Sweet Will by Philip Levine
They Feed They Lion by Philip Levine
You Can Have It by Philip Levine
March, 25, 1911 by Chris Llewellyn
Sear by Chris Llewellyn
Triangle Site by Chris Llewellyn
Heavy Machinery by Robert Louthan
Foundryblack by Charles Casey Martin
Love In The Coal Mine by Suzanne Matson
One Summer by Robert Mezey
Seeing Them On Television by Lisel Mueller
Reaganomics Comes To Pittsburgh by Michael (20th Century-) O'connor
Ford by Joyce Carol Oates
Women Whose Lives Are Food, Men Whose Lives Are Money by Joyce Carol Oates
The Abandoned Altmire Mine by Ed Ochester
The Miners At Revloc by Ed Ochester
Retired Miners by Ed Ochester
The World We Dreamed Of by Ed Ochester
After The Deindustrialization Of America, ... by Peter Oresick
The Annual Ppg Pensioners' Picnic by Peter Oresick
Landscape With Unemployed, 1934 by Peter Oresick
My Father by Peter Oresick
Now by Peter Oresick
The Story Of Glass by Peter Oresick
Toward The Heaven Of Full Empolyment by Peter Oresick
A Job On The Night Shift by Greg Pape
Anthracite Country by Jay Parini
Coal Train by Jay Parini
The Miner's Wake by Jay Parini
Playing In The Mines by Jay Parini
Working The Face by Jay Parini
The Orange Bears by Kenneth Patchen
On The Line In Oakland, California by Donald A. Petesch
Jurgis Petraskas, The Workers' Angel...strike In Exeter, Pa by Anthony Petrosky
Liberty Avenue by Anthony Petrosky
My Father Is by Anthony Petrosky
A Pennsylvania Family by Anthony Petrosky
Photograph by Anthony Petrosky
The Visit by Anthony Petrosky
Belle's Body by Kevin Rippin
The Boys by Kevin Rippin
Strangers by David Rivard
Torque by David Rivard
At The Train Tracks by Len Roberts
Coal Miners by Len Roberts
Aunt Dolly by Carolyn M. Rodgers
Alone With The Shoe Manufacturer In His Memorial Park by Liz Rosenberg
The Furniture Factory by Vern Rutsala
The Ditch by Michael Ryan
Enough! by James Scully
Motown by James Scully
Mission Tire Factory, 1969 by Gary Soto
The Miners Of Delta by Susan Stewart
The Miracle-factory by Constance Urdang
Their Bodies by David Wagoner
A Valedictory To Standard Oil Of Indiana by David Wagoner
In The Dress Factory by Ronald W. Wallace
Bosses by Tom Wayman
The Country Of Everday: Literary Criticism by Tom Wayman
Factory Time by Tom Wayman
Industrial Music by Tom Wayman
Tool Fondle by Tom Wayman
Unemployment by Tom Wayman
Wayman In The Workforce: Actively Seeking Empoloyment by Tom Wayman
Machines by Robert Winner
Endako Shutdown, 1982 by Andrew Wreggitt
Fairview Floats by Andrew Wreggitt
Metal by Andrew Wreggitt
Song, Endako by Andrew Wreggitt
Autumn Begins In Martins Ferry, Ohio by James Wright
Beautiful Ohio by James Wright
Honey by James Wright
Youth by James Wright
Diary Of The Strike by Robert Wrigley
From Lumaghi Mine by Robert Wrigley
Miners Shaking Hands With A Union Man by Robert Wrigley
Oh Yeah, The Mine Talks by Robert Wrigley
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press (January 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0252061330
• ISBN-13: 978-0252061332
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #634,157 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the best poetry collection ever, April 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Working Classics: Poems on Industrial Life (Hardcover)

This is a wonderful collection from published and unknown poets about work, good and bad. I take it with me to factories and read it in hotels. These are all "blood" poems. A treasure.