a poetry reading at keystone villa at fleetwood in mid-april.

stanley burkert of maidencreek township served as the poem-source guest among his fellow residents for a poetry reading about the labors of our fingertips: poems from manufacturing history in berks county at keystone villa at fleetwood in the blandon area tuesday afternoon.

burkert made shoes on peach street long ago and worked on custom steel projects for clients near the city of reading. you can read the excerpt of his poem here.

copies of burkert's full poem in large font were printed and handed out to all residents at the poetry reading so they could follow along and ask him questions after everyone had taken in its details. kelly gorski, who kindly offered two hands of help with photography assistance, asked him how he ended up getting his shoe factory job, and he explained that his brother worked there but eventually quit to take a job in construction.

it was wonderful to see ed ochocki again, too, since writing his life story locally and about how he had a sniper's single bullet rip through him in four places in world war ii on the island of tinian south of japan but still survived and kept fighting.

lessons in how poetry can be funny, something a lot of people don't expect, were a part of the reading, too, like with edna machemer's poem, which has an underwear-related joke toward the end. hearing people in their 80s and 90s laugh well and knowing that you nudged that gift into life is a beautiful reward in this work. and we all need to laugh more in this life, anyway. so any opportunity for it is a nice perk and reprieve from the stress and strain in being alive today. and if laughter sparks to light through poetry, that's all for the better in the literary arts and also at a soul-level.

a hand-drawn sketch of betty miller & melvin miller as a surprise gift from alice gerhart.

a surprise for betty miller and melvin miller slowly took shape literally at the hands of alice gerhart after the poetry reading where they were all guests at the center at spring street in boyertown, the area's senior center, in march.

since gerhart is a retired public school art teacher who is almost 90, and she's still teaching art to her fellow seniors, she agreed to do a sketch of the millers, combining two older separate pictures of them from this poetry project so that they appeared side-by-side in her final scene.

the three of them knew each other lightly from having lunch at the senior center, and gerhart's paintings are on the walls of the main room where everyone eats.

it took gerhart 12 hours to do the sketch of the millers, but once she did, she called me to let me know she'd finished it and had put a matte around it. i then called the millers to ask if i could stop by last thursday evening to drop something off for them and noted that i'd be in the neighborhood, which was technically true by making the arrangement in the first place.

that night, i picked up gerhart and her wonderful beau, alvin behm, and we drove to the millers' home. we knocked on the door, said hello, walked in, and gerhart gave them the unanticipated gift of the sketch.

melvin described the sketch as excellent and told gerhart she'd been very gracious to do this for him and his wife. everyone chatted for a while about life, family, and art, before we said goodbye. 

it feels so soul-hugging to know these three are all a part of this poetry project, now connected in a new and more heart-oriented way, because of being tied together through the poems that spell out their memories in manufacturing jobs from long ago in our county.

a poetry reading at the boyertown area historical society in early april.

the boyertown area historical society kindly invited this poetry project to be a part of its programming this year, and it hosted a poetry reading for the labors of our fingertips: poems from manufacturing history in berks county during the evening of april 6, with linda steffy as a guest from the first volume's stories.

thank you to lindsay dierolf for offering assistance with photography during the poetry reading and for sharing this program with its members. the audience had quite an array of people in it who are known to appreciate local history as well as reading (a retired local elementary school librarian). the snacks and drinks afterward were an especially perk-oriented treat, too, considering this is all done through nonprofit efforts and supported membership.

dierolf said the little glimmers of details about the poem-sources, besides just hearing the poem themselves, made enjoying the memories of others even more worth it. you can hear about the laughter-ready side-story of john heck's goat in this older blog post. that post also involves recollections of him singing a nancy sinatra tune, and dancing to it, too, before his main interview for this poetry project.

several people who attended the poetry reading came up afterward to note how much they appreciated it and liked hearing the stories in the poems. and since a lot of them knew some of the people whose memories were captured in the poems, that brings it all even closer to home in a comforting way, in a small town. hearing gratitude for this work and its impact in the community is always a hug-worthy plus as a way to end an evening.

a poetry reading at phoebe berks in wernersville in early april.

the the labors of our fingertips: poems from manufacturing history in berks county joined phoebe berks in wernersville on april 5. a poetry reading inside the chapel involved several residents who are also poets and avid lovers of poetry.

and thank you to diana berstler for assisting with photography of the poetry reading.

gloria tatro mentioned that she loves poetry and was looking forward to the poetry reading, after she heard about it. 

when people ask her why she likes poetry, she says, "it tells everything. in poetry, everything is said in just a few lines."

she read some of the pages of volume one of the poems from this project before the reading began.

tatro recently relocated from florida to phoebe berks and said that long ago, she was a buyer in lingerie when she lived in new york city many years ago, so she had her own old ties to manufacturing outside of pennsylvania.

kathy savadelis, on the left, brought some of her own poems in different styles and shared them before and after the reading. she is very successful with rhyme, which isn't an easy accomplishment !

evelyn aurand, on the left, is a writer, poet, and big supporter of this project, so it was great to have her in the audience with the others who visited and noted how much they enjoyed the reading, after it ended.

poetry reading at the boyertown area historical society this wednesday, april 6 @ 7 p.m.

the boyertown area historical society is using the labors of our fingertips: poems from manufacturing history in berks county as a featured program this wednesday evening, april 6 @ 7 p.m.

the poetry reading is free for members, and for non-members, there is a small fee. 

linda steffy of boyertown borough will be a guest from the first volume of poems, so she'll be there to talk with the audience.

for any questions about the boyertown area historical society, visit their website, or call them at 610.367.5255.

a poetry reading at boyertown's senior center in march.

betty miller and melvin miller as well as alice gerhart were special guests for a poetry reading on wednesday, march 23 at the center at spring street, what is known as boyertown's senior center. these three poem-sources also often have lunch at the center, so it was a great opportunity for those who enjoy meals alongside them to learn more about them, possibly insights they never talked about in their older conversations together, if they chatted with each other before. and a lot of seniors have lunches there throughout the week. we ate fish sandwiches, rice, and succotash this particular day, as noted in the blog post about melvin miller.

deb brauner helped with photography during this poetry reading. thank you very much for this assistance, deb.

below are scenes of the poetry reading. in the first two pictures, betty miller is reading her own poem in volume one of the the labors of our fingertips: poems from manufacturing history in berks county.

one guest in the audience spoke about how when she was in school as a child, she had to memorize poetry for class, and it rhymed. so we gabbed about changes in norms of poetry from then into today and how rhyming is still done here and there. we also talked about internal rhyme and gave an example of that in john heck's poem, in the final line of the second stanza.

and lastly is the excerpt of alice gerhart's poem, since it hasn't been shared on the blog or facebook page for this poetry project until now. she was born in 1926, lives in douglass township, and is a retired art teacher who still creates art. the end of the poem about her short-lived job is readable in the first volume of poetry for this project. reach out if you'd like to purchase a copy.

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the shortest job i ever landed—so short i don’t remember

the name of the place, had me driving to west reading

for a week, maybe two, at the most. it might have been

reading air chutes, inc. i worked the swing shift, kept

scissors in my grips, cut air vents into the shiny white

fabric of parachutes for our soldiers in world war ii.

i didn’t know i’d work there so briefly as a teenager, 19.

all i remember is being so sleepy that i couldn’t keep

my eyes open. i know i fell asleep on a wicker sofa

there while on break. but i fell asleep mid-cutting,

too, and an older girl nudged me to waking so i could

keep the slicing of parachutes alive, hearing the nylon,

or whatever that fabric was, rip, rip, and tear between

two sharp blades. just days into my sleep-wanting,

somebody came in and said, the war is over. our fury

with japan had ended. suddenly, there was no work

for me anymore, and my cutting wages disappeared.

when i walked outside, people were shouting, hollering.

they kissed in the street, stood on the running boards

of their cars, rolled across the hoods, yelling the good

word, honking horns on repeat, pressing their palms

into those steering wheels, howling, squealing, glad

that war would no longer hold down their hearts...

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