great success & stories-- the first poetry reading of the project.

last saturday, the first poetry reading for the labors of our fingertips: poems from manufacturing history in berks county went swimmingly at the exeter community library with 21 appreciative audience members in attendance, including two of the poem-sources, linda steffy and al haring.

lilly jay hetrick-ludy debuted her poems which were written in mrs. elizabeth deangelo's first grade class at new hanover elementary school and heard gracious clapping after reading each of them. and now she's gearing up for a poetry night with her aunt for this evening. summer, rain, earth, and pizza were some topics she put to paper and shared with her ear-ready listeners.

( all photographs from this poetry reading were taken by samantha waterman. )

the reading began with introductions of non-manufacturing poems for those who aren't readily into the poetry realm, to give a better feel for the broad nature of how poems can come together, depending on who is writing them. here are the first poems read as great example pieces from poets who inspired this project:

"considering a field" by philip terman from the torah garden.

"blue ruby 1" & "blue ruby 2" by heather thomas from blue ruby.

"pauline learns to sew" by barbara presnell from piecework.

philip terman is the poetry professor of jennifer hetrick and the advisor for her minor, back in college days. heather thomas served as the third poet laureate of berks county and has been a breathtakingly inspiring mentor for hetrick. and barbara presnell, who lives in north carolina, is someone hetrick interviewed when she visited the city of reading to share her poetry book's words about an old textile mill down south with those in berks county, a great nudge to get this particular poetry project into our community.

( notice all the smiling & laughing. ) 

( linda steffy )

( the infamous little timing device, from long ago )

( al haring ) 

( al haring, perhaps post pronunciation of pennsylvania dutch curse words for when he attempted not to burn his fingertips as a boarder in sock manufacturing during his teen years. )

it is important to teach children how to love art from the start, and poetry can often be a form of that which they adore once exposed to the curious way of its language stirring in us.

it seems that people sometimes don't expect humor or pennsylvania dutch profanity to be in a poem, but this poetry reading and its poems crafted from wonderfully delightful seniors in berks county helped people to see that there is still plenty of fresh new everything in life, to learn, as we make our way from one day to the next.

an underwear story sort of joke provoked a wonderful brand of laughter at edna machemer's poem, which will be posted soon. keep your eyes peeled for it.

please check out older posts on this blog to find out about more upcoming readings, and additional ones will be posted in the future. in the meantime, thank you for all of your encouraging support, and stay savvy.