al haring of maxatawny township, who knew all too well the likes of fancy socks and the ouchhh-provoking way of scolding hot steam in his teenage years, will be at the first poetry reading for this project.
the audience is welcome to ask him questions or share their stories tied to his own. and since this excerpt of his poem below involves pennsylvania dutch curse words, that may make the afternoon a bit more worthwhile for the ears, too ! the translation will be noted at the reading, if you don't know it and would like to learn what it means.
the poetry reading where you can see al haring and hear his full poem as well poems from other seniors around berks county is slated for saturday, may 30 @ 1 p.m. at the exeter community library @ 4565 prestwick drive, reading, pa 19606. please RSVP to thelaborsofourfingertips@yahoo.com or 610.401.3392. or feel free to respond via facebook.
*
they called me a boarder at the wanner hosiery mill
in fleetwood. some days, fuzzy angstadt drove us there
from bowers after school in our junior and senior years.
we arrived around 4 p.m. to finish what the day shift
couldn’t, learning the fast art of placing men’s socks
on these boards, 12 feet, in profile, made from stainless
steel, pulsing steam to dry the cotton. the boards
took the wrinkles out of the fabric, heated a crease
down the middle. at first, we burned our fingertips
and yelled, gut fer dumb – heilich dunner wedder !
*
( first photos-- a hint for what follows in the rest
of this poem; then it's al & bob the dog )
No comments:
Post a Comment