a poetry reading at the ideas bookstore in kimberton, chester county.

this past saturday evening, this poetry project had its first official public reading outside of berks county and in literary-loved up scenery: the ideas bookstore in kimberton, chester county. this place is whimsical in itself but all the more so because it has an upcycled section of tree on the first floor, with glittery lights inside, and kids can crawl in it to settle down and read a good book.

emily neblock and her father, don neblock, added some worthwhile character at the poetry reading by testing out some of the poems from volume two in their own voices to help give variety of sound and how we perceive what we hear when it is spoken from the page.

and while several members of the audience offered questions about the people whose stories are shared in these poems, barbara tucker asked a lot about the nature of the process of this work, including one inquiry which pops up often at readings. people want to know how much of a poem is the source's voice and how much of it is the poet's. the poems are often largely paraphrased to be written more poetically than they were first said, but all of the seniors who have poems in the project are given drafts in advance to proofread for accuracy of how their stories and memories are conveyed. direct wording phrases from the seniors are peppered into lines here and there, and i pointed that out in a few poems, including the one about brenda lee boone's past manufacturing jobs.

photography is kindly courtesy of aaron wozniak.

a poetry reading at walnut woods in boyertown.

earlier this week, i hosted a poetry reading at walnut woods in boyertown and featured shirley reifsnyder as a special guest from my first volume in this project. shirley is a resident at walnut woods.

everyone in the audience had large print copies of shirley's poem to read and follow along with as i read it. poems are a lot easier to take in and appreciate when you can not only hear them but also take them in visually as they're spoken.

photography during the reading was kindly courtesy of jessica gumbert who helped to coordinate the event.

since shirley hadn't been a part of the project since the initial year in 2015, an afternoon of delving back into her textile mill memories made for a nice way to end the day.

 

and an employee of walnut woods brimmed with excitement over hearing about poetry happening in the building, so she also attended. to keep poetry pushing forward positively across everything, she recited a poem by memory, one which she wrote about her father. it involved end rhyme, a nice variation of difference from my style, and with charming literary wit and evident affection for her father who she greatly misses.

two videos from the poetry reading at studio b on october 9, 2016.

below are two videos from the poetry reading for this project at studio b in boyertown this past weekend. the first is history and location talks of manufacturing businesses in the boyertown borough. the other is john groff's poem being read. videography credit: sam traten.

a visit to kutztown area middle school to work with its eighth graders.

in september, linda steffy and i visited kutztown area middle school and talked about the art of asking questions (known by its other name, interviewing) and writing poetry with all of the eighth graders. 

since linda's poem is the very last one in my first volume from this project, and it's quite a kicker in terms of the details, we went over it stanza by stanza to identify what stands out in the specifics and thus, also, what leads to good poetry. and it is an extra perk that linda is a retired elementary school teacher, so she even went around at the end of our sessions to help students think of ways to start their own poems expanding on her experience as well as their own reflections about old factory buildings and the lives of those who used to work in them.

below are scenes from the morning of questions, stories, and poetry, followed by some of the poems written by the students after our group discussions. we also hope to hand-craft a book of the students' poems from this particular day to showcase at the school for guests to eye-peruse in the future.

(the poem photographed below is by student Dillon H.)

the poem photographed below is by  student Veronica Q.)

Liz F.

Fast ticking springs, clanking bombs
made for Vietnam. Ticking ticking, I hear
the time mechanism


*


Damien D.

Abandoned factories
Boarded windows


*


Kahlil D.

Smoke billows from pillars
Industrial metal cages
dirt streaks the workers
forgotten & abandoned
Used to thrive and dive


*


Alyssa L.

The heat from the super hot sun beats on my
body as I work in the factory building,
bombs minute by minute, earning money for
college so someday I may be a teacher.


*


Sam S.

No McDonald's for lunch
Back then none of these
We should get one
here in Kutztown
After work grab a Big Mac
It will get rid of your hunger

a poetry reading at studio b this october.

yesterday, studio b in boyertown hosted a poetry reading for this project, and jerry rothermel who lives a few blocks away served as the featured guest. he also shared memories of his mother's poem from the project, as she worked at tung-sol for many decades, like he did, but wasn't able to attend the reading because she's in her 90s and has a little trouble getting around compared to old days. and she lives in chester county, but we're hoping to set up a poetry reading where she lives at manatawny manor in the future so that she and jerry can be featured together with this kind of programming to share with residents there.

jerry also brought along old newsletters from tung-sol as well as an actual headlight from the company's manufacturing industry days in boyertown borough.

an excerpt from jerry's poem is below scenes from the reading. he was born in 1949, and his mother lena who also worked at tung-sol was born in 1925.

gracious thanks go to sam traten for photography during this poetry reading.

(arline christ showcases one of jerry's salvaged headlights which was manufactured in the early 1970s.)

*

my grandfather kept night-adjusted eyes on the place back 

when it stood a few buildings away from the final location, 

tung-sol in boyertown. a watchman, leon, he waited for us, 

for dinner in our hands when he stood guard, hungry under 

the stars. they did weekly fire and safety checks of the new 

facility at 400 east second street, using the original location 

to hold old equipment. in 1907, they called it tung-sol lamp 

works, inc. in newark, new jersey. the plant in our town first 

opened in 1942. by 1951, they took on the name tung-sol 

electric, inc. the place had so many names, that one which 

sounded at first like the wet slip of mouth, but also then 

studebaker-worthington, wagner electric corporation, cooper 

industries, mcgraw-edison. last, we knew it as federal-mogul 

corporation. in the other plants across this country, they 

fashioned all sorts of windshield wiper blades, sparkplugs, 

brakes, and bearings. we only made headlights for cars. i 

started there in 1967 until 1969—then i specialized in building 

floating bridges in germany for the u.s. army, but in 1971, i 

began at tung-sol again, second shift. i earned maybe $1.65 an 

hour in that era. a bunch of the guys showed up at my house 

one night—i noticed faces behind the dark-seeming windows, 

their smirks saying it all: factory men delivering dirty movies 

and ring bologna. we ate that meat, lounged out in front 

of the television screen, watched those scenes until 2 a.m.

they did this to the new guys. after they left, i walked up 

the stairs, apologized to my wife, fell asleep. at first, i’d been 

a material handler after the lights came off of beam-checking. 

we put them on skids where they’d await packing. once i’d 

come back to pennsylvania from my overseas service years, i 

worked in maintenance until 2000. we had a full two weeks 

of a shutdown each july, summer days saved for repairing all...