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.
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. )
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