University of Wisconsin Press, 1985 Paper: 978-0-299-10354-5 Library of Congress Classification PS3554.A5635P5 1985 Dewey Decimal Classification 811.54
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
ABOUT THIS BOOK
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.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY Jim Daniels was born in Detroit in 1956 and currently lives in Pittsburgh. He is a recipient of a 1985 National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship. This book is the recipient of the inaugural Brittingham Prize in Poetry.
REVIEWS
"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
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
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.
University of Wisconsin Press, 1985 Paper: 978-0-299-10354-5
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.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY Jim Daniels was born in Detroit in 1956 and currently lives in Pittsburgh. He is a recipient of a 1985 National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship. This book is the recipient of the inaugural Brittingham Prize in Poetry.
REVIEWS
"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
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
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.
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE