a few initial copies of the first book for the project made their way to berks county today !

an early release of 10 copies of the first book for this project arrived in the mail today. the remainder will be printed and ready from the publisher by mid-september or earlier. but below are some eye-scenes from it for now, and if you'd like to order a copy, please email thelaborsofourfingertips@yahoo.com or call 610.401.3392. if you contribute $20 to the gofundme campaign for the project, that is another way for you to get a book, until copies run out.

copies will also be available for sale at the next poetry two readings for this project, which are set for thursday, september 17 @ 7 p.m. at klein lecture hall at albright college in the city of reading and sunday, october 25 @ 2 p.m. at studio b in boyertown. please RVSP if you can attend either event. and thank you tremendously for your support for this long but worthwhile labor. =)

proof and cover options-- trying to decide among these awe-stirring options.

the proof and cover options for the first book of this poetry project arrived in the mail today. it's stirring such awe here with the pretty-factor !

if you have recommendations on the color/texture options between these pretty cover choices, please feel free to note your insights. it seems like it will be hard to pick one because they all have their own lovely appeal eye-wise and then also seemingly through a few other senses, starting with feeling. community insights are always helpful, and you are all a part of this, if you're reading this page.

to make it easier to tell which is which, let's describe the options as 1 through 6, starting with 1 in the bottom left corner, and the actual book proof's cover is 6.

the manuscript for the first book in this project is finally in the hands of the publisher.

the manuscript for the first book for this poetry project is finally in to the publisher. phewww-- such a wonderful point to get to ! more news will be on its way for the official release in the next few weeks. stay tuned. thank you all for your incredible support you've offered here.

and here is an inspiring quote from the early pages of the book. keep it close to your heart as you find your way through your days.

some poems you read, and some poems you are.

– joe swider, a resident of perry township, berks county, pennsylvania

a tilden township woman's poem inspired by a reading for this poetry project.

a stitched collage artist by the name of martha ressler, known to many as marty, attended the first thursday poetry night hosted by berks bards at goggleworks in the city of reading last thursday where the labors of our fingertips: poems from manufacturing history in berks county stood as the main feature before the open mic. she'd heard about the event through email updates. and she herself worked in the garment, meat-packing, steel, and automotive industries, outside of our region. so she had a personal interest in these local manufacturing history poems for that reason.

( martha ressler and a sampling of her art -- credit: jay ressler )

ressler grew up in cleveland and last lived in pittsburgh before moving to tilden township. but her diverse background in different manufacturing jobs in the past few decades kept her ears perked well as the poems from this project spread across the air on the first floor of goggleworks.

she felt inspired to write a poem of her own just from listening to the poems from this project and noticing a quick jump of a movement for the goal of a sudden edit by the poet. her poem is below, in gratitude of her agreeing to let it be shared as a part of this project. and the line about a baby bird in her poem references the poem which is from the memories of willie kramer of south heidelberg township, although the feather-y reminders portion is not in the excerpt posted here earlier on the blog. some mystery is still tucked in the words you've yet to see. you can find out about the winged ones once the book is released in a few weeks.

*

poem for jennifer

by martha ressler

i came to hear poetry about working.

i expected a grizzled time worn poet, face like leather, muscles knotted, hands scarred.

instead stood this young woman, long light brown hair and so thin she could have walked out of her boots.

she read her poems, tentatively.

she had listened to workers, for hours.

they talked about their tools, their machines, their co-workers, and their losses. 

they spoke of their boredom and fleeting moments of joy.

i remember the one about the worker delighted, briefly, by a mother and baby bird, flying up in the rafters. 

i remember the poem about the sewing machine operator whose factory closed down. 

everyone moved on, but the women left the secrets they’d told, the laughs they’d shared, in a tangled knot of threads on the floor.

i liked that the young woman with long brown hair stopped reading, once, to reach for a pen. 

she wanted to correct “sewing” to “knitting.”

“i got them confused before i learned the difference.”

she learned that and so much more. she learned about extruders, swing shifts, piecework versus hourly pay, and the difference between warp and weft.

she listened and absorbed, asked questions, and then listened some more.

then she spun those stories of boredom, routine, and joy into silken word threads.

august 6th-- berks bards features the labors of our fingertips: poems from manufacturing history in berks county.

berks bards graciously invited the labors of our fingertips: poems from manufacturing history in berks county to be the focal feature for its monthly reading in august-- last thursday at goggleworks in the city of reading. around 40 people made up the audience for the hour or so before the open mic portion of the evening.

two poem-sources were able to be a part of our literary-loving and history-hugging moments: willie kramer of south heidelberg township attended this reading, to talk about his memories of working in a tannery in fleetwood for a good portion of his life, and so did vasilia vardaxis of the city of reading, who kept close to candy daily at the luden's plant near her home long ago. before this, the kramer and vardaxis had never shared their stories in front of an audience, and seeing them light up at sharing responses to people's questions is a great reminder of why this project is so valuable. stories are so important, which is something pursuing the creation of these poems and also just even reading them brings to the surface of our understanding.

below is an excerpt of the poem inspired by varadaxis whose mother birthed her an ocean away from berks county.

*

i left greece for this new country in 1956, that story
of wanting a better life, leaving a poor village behind.

at 26, new to this soil, i made the city 
of reading my home and never left except 
trips back to greece, last in 1980. my pictures

are there with family, of my first job and my last, 
all in one. i touched candy daily at the luden’s plant 

on eighth street in reading. most people 
know how hershey bought it out, except 
the young kids today. they probably don’t. 

now it is anything but, a candy factory’s rich smells no 
longer saturating the air in that building. when candy 

came down on the belt, we’d package it.
the belt moved fast, so you had to work quickly. 
on decorating duty, we put diced almonds 

on top of fifth avenue bars. but then we stopped and just 
kept the bars plain. during most of my time in packaging, 

we grabbed the sweets and arranged them into boxes. 
cherry, lemon, and honey lemon cough drops. 
creme drops, too. the candies dropped down 

onto a shaker first, to make them more straight, coming  
from the department above ours. i earned $40 a week, at first. 

but 20 years of lifting 40-pound boxes of that
stuff took a toll on my back, angered my spine.

*

( vardaxis )

ryan marie rettew kindly managed the camera for the evening as a way to support this poetry project.

( vardaxis enjoying heart-sharing time with the audience. )

( like vardaxis, willie kramer initially heard and read his poem crafted through this project months ago, but only last week did he first hear it voiced to dozens of berks county residents who then began to ask him questions about his life, experiences, and memories. and they clearly loved hearing what he had to say-- and he loved that. his eyes said it all. so it's win-in-city, all around. find out more of what this is like at a future reading, and if you aren't already on the email list for this project, feel free to request to be added to it via thelaborsofourfingers@yahoo.com. )

foothills publishing.

thank the literary deities-- the final 25 poems for the first book for this project were finished as of a few days ago. progress is such a beautiful thing.

foothills publishing based in steuben county, new york will be publishing the first book under this project's title, the labors of our fingertips: poems from manufacturing history in berks county, as an initial volume. the release date is pending but in the works.

michael czarnecki, who lives a little more than three hours from berks county, is the man behind this foothills publishing and started his literary operation in 1986. 

it became a great privilege to write about him for the reading eagle after he visited berks county while on tour in 2013. the article is readable here.

as that reporting notes, czarnecki has already published books of poetry by several berks county residents in the past, including berks county's third, fourth, and fifth poet laureates-- heather thomas, craig czury, and maria mcdonnell, respectively. he has a great reverence for the writings which come from the minds and hearts of those who put words on the page in berks county.

( blue ruby by heather thomas, released by foothills publishing ) 

as you can see above, czarnecki does hand-stitching of poetry books, and it's clear that a dedicated care goes into the creation of anything he produces.

the gofundme campaign for this poetry project is officially launched !

while this project was originally slated to have a kickstarter campaign to help with supplementing costs outside of what expenses are covered in it through state arts grants, moving instead to gofundme as a crowd-sourcing platform made more sense because of less limitations. kickstarter only allowed one and two-month campaigns, with one-month campaigns usually ending up more successful than two-month campaigns. for someone with a lot of jobs and responsibilities to juggle, in addition to a project like this, that's a lot of pressure on top of what's already a lot of pressure. an ongoing campaign with no time limitation made more sense here since the project will continue for two more years. plus, if a campaign goal is not met, with kickstarter, you don't get the funding at all. but with gofundme, you as the person running the campaign have access to the funds immediately, with each transaction, minus the fees. less stress and strain seemed like the more rational route to ensure continued support possibilities here.

to support this poetry project through gofundme, please check out the link below.

http://www.gofundme.com/berkscountypoems

most crowd-sourcing sites don't let you have long titles, thus the shortened campaign title and URL wording for the labors of our fingertips: poems from manufacturing history in berks county.

any and all support for this campaign will be greatly appreciated, please know. funding the arts while preserving history of manufacturing in our country is a challenge which deserves to come to the surface across all different kinds of stories we might otherwise lose.

please pass this on to anyone who may be interested in supporting this project's continuing influence in the berks county community. it may well set examples for people and organizations well outside of southeastern pennsylvania, too, which would be a great sign for saving more local history in the form of poems while honoring the seniors who have made this project possible.

a glimpse: ray doskus, born 1942.

working with chocolate every day can make you tired of it quickly, ray doskus of lower alsace township learned in his earlier years. he also has a humorous twist at the end of his poem, but that is something you'll have to wait to hear at a poetry reading or see in the first book for this project. the tail-end surprise story, around his chocolate days, involves a trolley and cotton candy. his poem excerpt is below.

*

on moss street in reading, i grew sick of the smell of chocolate

in about two weeks. operating the machines for filling molds

at bortz chocolate, inc. in the 1960s, they started me out at 90

cents an hour.  by the next year, they bumped me up to $1 per

hour. barely 18, i rented a house on those wages for $38 each

month. young people envy those numbers nowadays, but we

had to work hard for even a dollar back then. we had molds

from the size of a penny up to a giant rabbit, a few feet tall.

it wasn’t just big rabbits, although those furry creatures

are probably the easiest to remember. we filled up molds

of ducks and pigs. at holidays, they brought out easter eggs,

turkeys at thanksgiving, reindeer and wide-bellied santas

at christmas. by then, the molds might have moved from 

cast-iron to aluminum alloys. any old mold they didn’t want 

to use anymore—they’d smash into pieces in the back parking 

lot so nobody would steal their designs. history is always 

harder to preserve when worry about proprietary this or that 

is behind even making candy. you had to know the amount

of ounces for any mold you poured, to set the machines right.

if you set a mold to have 8 ounces come down, and it only

needed 3 ounces to fill it all in, you had a mess to clean up.

once, i filled a bunny mold so full that one of the women

carried it away and could barely hold it. we had to melt it

back down before the bosses knew, to not get in trouble.

*

( these tickets are curious artifacts. find out more about them in the full poem 

when the first book for this project is released or at an upcoming poetry reading. )