last weekend, i hosted the first poetry reading of 2017 to introduce the newest poems in this project in the third and final book which is in the works for the labors of our fingertips: poems from manufacturing history in berks county.
studio b's hardworking volunteers kindly served to offer this venue rental in the community, and it is always a wonderful place for poetry readings and bringing people together who aren't normally into poetry but do want to hear the stories written in these recollections from interviews. it's also then a nice way to expose people to less common lines of poetry through local history and documenting the lives of seniors in our area.
betty sefrit who worked at boyertown auto body works wasn't able to make it as planned but hopes to be at the next poetry reading at studio b on sunday, october 8 at 1 p.m.
betty's co-worker ernie haas, however, was able to attend and brought along some neat old black and white pictures as well as a magazine where boyertown auto body works was featured.
and richard and mary-frances haas joined the afternoon in talking about their work at bally ribbon mills as well as great american knitting mills, inc., which was the home to the gold toe sock factory.
walter delong, from my second volume in this project, also chimed in from the audience sometimes in relating his work with others at boyertown auto body works, as did leonard crowdell who worked with mary-frances after moving here from england in the 1960s to fix knitting machines.
and walter makes a second appearance in the upcoming volume three also, through another poem-source's memories, but that glimmer will be shared sometime a bit more into the future.
here are some eye-scenes from the poetry readings, thanks to laura kline's camera efforts. and a long excerpt from one of the special featured guests is included.
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mary-frances koch, washington township | born: 1941
rudi abrams told me, you aren’t meant for the factory—you
are meant to work in the office, after i did trimming of gold
toe socks for great american knitting mills, inc. in bally. i
started in customer service but had a belly with a baby in it
by 1963, another child at home for richard and me. when
i returned in 1966, plant floor jobs were all they had, but rudi
brought me into production and inventory clerk work in 1967.
he came here from germany, ran the plant, made this place
his home by 1923. our 75th anniversary booklet showcases
one page from his technical journal from his study of textiles
at the university of stuttgart, his german-jewish words spelled
gracefully, sprawling, scratched ink, mingling with sketches
of knitted patterns for the strongest weave, early design ideas
to later catapult his invention—a linenized toe made to outlast
any wear with durable reinforcement in the yarn. i issued our
knitting and dyeing schedules, maintained stock-keeping
units across all departments. from 1972 to 1978, i moved
into supervising above my last role. after viola edge let out
word of retiring, having nudged me into getting that first job
long ago, she recommended me for her position, personnel
manager, trained me for several months before she said adieu
to a life of socks upon socks every single day. i went from her
position to human resource administrator, to office manager,
once they hired someone else to help with the interviewing...
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