Jim Daniels, in his first book of poems, draws upon his experiences in living and working in his native Detroit to present a start, realistic picture of urban, blue-collar life.  Daniels, his brothers, his father, and his grandfather have all worked in the auto industry, and that background seeps into nearly all these poems.
    The first of the book’s three sections sketches out this background, then moves into a neighborhood full of people whose lives are so linked to the ups and downs of the auto industry that they have to struggle to find their own lives; in "Still Lives in Detroit, #2," Daniels writes, "There’s a man in this picture.  / No one can find him."  The second section contains the "Digger" poems, a series on the lives of a Detroit auto worker and his family which tries to capture the effects of the work on life outside the factory.  Here, we listen to Digger think, dream, wander on psychological journeys while he moves through his routines, shoveling the snow, mowing the lawn, and so forth.  In section three, the poems move into the workplace, whether that be a liquor store, a hamburger joint, or a factory.
    These poems, sometimes dark, sometimes humorous, concentrate on the efforts of workers to rise above the often depressing work of blue-collar or minimum-wage jobs, to salvage some pride and dignity.  The poems in this book try to give a voice to those who are often shut out of poetry.  They are important.  These lives are important, and the poems, more than anything, say that.

"Jim Daniels’ work is strong, direct, with a contemporary validity."—Gwendolyn Brooks

"These poems are both testimony and the articulate gift of its human emotion: that one lives in a world that can feel, and insists on it. . . .Jim Daniels is a poet of unique commitment and ability. He makes poetry and act of deep caring and recognition."—Robert Creeley

"Daniels’ poems have exactly what one looks for in a first book—a strong, sure new voice, determinedly his own—as if he had no choice—heartfelt, speaking as certain poets seem able to, for those who are too often, not mute, but inarticulate. The book reads with the power and coherence of a novel, if novels could be written at the pitch of continuous small explosions of emotion."—Stuart Dybek

• Contents 
• Foreword
• One
• My Grandfather's Tools
• My Father Worked Late
• My Mother Walks
• Wheels
• Elegy for Muncey
• March 17, 1972
• Real Dancing
• Ted's Bar and Grill
• Hard Times in the Motor City
• 5000 Apply for 100 Jobs
• No Job
• Still Lives in Detroit, #1–3
• Snowstorm in Detroit
• The Man Stuck between His Shoes
• Watching My Old House Burn on the News
• Moving My Grandfather
• Two
• Digger Drives to Work
• Digger Goes Hunting
• Digger's Thanksgiving
• Digger Shovels the Snow
• Digger Has a Dream
• Digger Waters His Lawn
• Digger Can't Sleep
• Digger Arrives Home from Work
• Digger Goes on Vacation
• Digger's Daughter's First Date
• Digger Gets a Dog
• Digger Thinks about Numbers
• Digger Laid Off
• Three
• First Job
• A Good Customer
• Hold Up
• Short-order Cook
• May's Poem
• Mops
• Places Everyone
• For People Who Can't Open Their Hoods
• The Rubber Finger
• Recycled Lunchbucket
• Factory Jungle
• Pee Wee
• Anita, A New Hire on the Line
• Work Shoes
• Getting Off Early
• Factory Love
• Blood Flows through Steel
• After Work
• Acknowledgments

If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you with an electronic file for alternative access.

Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.

It can take 2-3 weeks for requests to be filled.