Working Words

M. L. Liebler is a poet, literary arts activist, and community organizer who has read and performed his work internationally. A teacher at Wayne State University, he is also the founding director of both the National Writer’s Voice Project in Detroit and Springfed Arts: Metro Detroit Writers Literary Arts Organization. He was selected as Best Detroit Poet by the Detroit Free Press and Metro Times, and his many awards include a Paterson Poetry Prize for Literary Excellence and the Barnes & Noble Poets & Writers Writers for Writers Award, an honor shared with Maxine Hong Kingston and Junot Díaz.

“Acclaimed poet M.L. Liebler inherited a blue-collar outlook on life that helps drive his tireless efforts to promote the literary arts in metro Detroit and encourage other writers . . .. A labor of love . . . A powerful, eclectic assortment.”—Detroit Free Press“Unabashedly political. Tea-partiers beware. Working Words delivers more than 500 pages of unadulterated and unabridged working-class word art. . . . A heavy anthology . . . which suits the mission of Working Words just fine.”—Detroit Metro Times“In this watershed time when so many technological, geopolitical, and financial forces are eradicating American jobs and dismantling the old blue-collar world, writer and activist Liebler presents a mammoth, high-voltage anthology of American poems, songs, memoirs, and fiction about work and working-class lives.-Booklist"The value of an encyclopedic book like this one is that readers get a flavor for how writers have told their personal stories of working-class existence through multiple literary forms. The poems, songs, and stories are meant not just to celebrate the written form but also to speak to the importance of how creative writing contributes to the lives of the poor and working class."—Labor Studies Journal

• I. Labor Poems & SongsMaggie Anderson………………………………………..Spitting in the LeavesClosed MillAntler……………………………………………………..Factory (excerpt)Written After Learning Slaves in Ancient Greece and RomeHad 115 Holidays a YearAmiri Baraka……………………………………………..A Poem Some People Will Have to UnderstandJan Beatty………………………………………………..My Father Teaches Me to DreamPoetry Workshop at the Homeless ShelterMad RiverA Waitresses’ Instructions on Tipping or Get the Cash Upand Don’t Waste My Time Daniel Berrigan…………………………………………..Prayer from a Picket LineLaura Boss………………………………………………..My Son Is Worried About MeMelba Joyce Boyd……………………………………….. the league of defensethe year of no snowMichael Casey…………………………………………….The Company PoolHayan Charara…………………………………………….CementAndrei Codrescu…………………………………………..Working for a ProfitAllison Adele Hedge Coke……………………………….Putting Up BeansOff SeasonWanda Coleman……………………………………………DroneAccounts PayableDavid Connolly…………………………………………….One Black MarkCarlos Cortez……………………………………………….Requiem for “Two Dago RedsThree SpiritsJayne Cortez………………………………………………..I Got the Blue-Ooze 93Emily Dickinson……………………………………………Poem # 133 (White Heat)Carlos Cumpian…………………………………………….We Don’t Wanna Peso MuchSoon It’s RobotsDiane diPrima……………………………………………….Revolutionary Letter #19Sue Doro……………………………………………………Assembly Room WomenOursSean Thomas Dougherty…………………………………...Tiny GriefsBob Dylan…………………………………………………...Last Thoughts on WoodyGuthrieUnion SundownLonesome Ballad of Hattie CarrollW.D. Ehrhart………………………………………………..Visiting My Parents GraveThe FarmerEminem……………………………………………………….Lose YourselfAnne Feeney…………………………………………Have You Been to Jail for JusticeCynthia Gallaher……………………………………………..Lucky Man Café Edward Field………………………………………………….Notes from a Slave ShipVievee Francis………………………………………………Harder OptionsFound in JuarezStewart Francke………………………………………………The Auto TradeMaria Mazziotti Gillan……………………………………Daddy, We Called YouAfter School on Ordinary DaysThe Herald News Calls Paterson a “Gritty City” Growing Up ItalianBiancheria and My MotherWoody Guthrie………………………………………………..1913 Massacre Frances E.W. Harper…………………………………………..Bury Me in a Free LandEdward Hirsch…………………………………………………The Sweatshop PoemSecond Story WarehouseMikhail Horowitz………………………………………………The Last WobblyJobsMurray Jackson…………………………………………………For Phil LevineGiftsX.J. Kennedy…………………………………………………….Talking Dust BowlAneb Kogostile……………………………………………… …..A New Afrikan ReggaeAl Kooper………………………………………………………..Comin’ Back in a CadillacDorianne Laux……………………………………………………The Shipfitter’s WifeLi-Young Lee…………………………………………………….The CleavingPhilip Levine…………………………………………………….. The Death of Mayokovsky, Library DaysOf Love & DisastersArrival & DepartureM.L. Liebler…………………………………………………….On the ScrapMaking It RightShirley Geok-lin Lim…………………………………………….Riding into CaliforniaHenry Wadsworth Longfellow…………………………………..The BuildersThomas Lux………………………………………………………The Deadhouse at theWorkhouseWhat I See When I Drive To WorkMichael McClure…………………………………………………Beginning with a Line by diPrimaRay McNiece……………………………………………………..Grandfather’s BreathTony Medina……………………………………………………..Lazy RussD. H. Melhem……………………………………………………Grandfather: Frailty Is Not Your StoryGary Metras……………………………………………………..Anonymous DonationJoseph Millar…………………………………………………….Telephone RepairmanEd’s Auto RepairMark Nowak……………………………………………………from $00/Line/Steel/TrainMatthew Olzmann……………………………………………….CameronRichard Peabody………………………………………………….The Forgivness DeviceCarolina SummerMolly Peacock……………………………………………………The Nice PartyJeff Poniewaz……………………………………………………..Factory Horn ExodusWell Paid SlavesMinnie Bruce Pratt…………………………………………………Day OffDudley Randall…………………………………………………...AncestorsGeorgeOld WitheringtonKevin Rashid…………………………………………………….. Groundskeeper Busted Reading in the Custodial Water ClosetJohn R. Reed……………………………………………………..ToolsJudith Roche………………………………………………………What We Do to LiveSummerTrinidad Sanchez, Jr………………………………………………Work Work WorkEdward Sanders………………………………………………….America: A History (excerpts)Herbert Scott (?)………………………………………………….Bag BoyVivian Shipley……………………………………………………The Hard Way Was the Only Way You Knew Betsy Sholl………………………………………………………Pink SlipMarc Kelly Smith……………………………………………….UnderdogPull the Next One Up Lamont B. Steptoe……………………………………………….Day WorkerSeamstressQuincy Troupe…………………………………………Poem for My Brother TimmyChris Tysh……………………… This Is Not My Beautiful House: Five Uncanny SitesDiane Wakoski………………………………………………….The Butcher’s ApronBarry Wallenstein…………………………………………………..Tony’s DadMary Ann Wehler…………………………………………………..1943Joe. E. Weil………………………………………………………….Ode to Elizabeth, NJRoger Weingarten…………………………………………………..Father Hunger & SonJack White…………………………………………………………The Big Three Killed My BabyWalt Whitman……………………………………………………I Hear America SingingII. Short FictionJeanne Bryner………………………………………………………Turn the Radio to a Gospel StationBonnie Jo Campbell…………………………………………………Selling ManureKing Cole's American SalvageWilla Cather…………………………………………………………Paul’s CaseWanda Coleman……………………………………………………..The Friday Night Shift at the Taco House Blues (Wah-Wah)Stephen Crane………………………………………………………..MaggieJim Daniels…………………………………………………………..No PetsKathleen Glynn……………………………………………………….Spring TodayBill Harris…………………………………………………………….At The MoviesLolita Hernandez…………………………………………………….. No Puedo BailarChristopher T. Leland…………………………………………………The Old WestM.L. Liebler…………………………………………………………...Swallowing CamelsColleen McElroy………………………………………………………Sister DetroitBret Lott………………………………………………………………..WorkJohn Sayles……………………………………………………………The 7/10 SplitLarry Smith…………………………………………………………..Outside the MillgateClifford Odets…………………………………………………………I Can’t Sleep Jeff Vande Zande……………………………………………………..LayoffXu Xi…………………………………………………………………To Body To ChickenIII. Non-Fiction , Histories & MemoirsRebecca Harding Davis………………………………Excerpt from Life in the Iron MillsDorothy Day……………………………………Excerpts from The Dorothy Day ReaderJennifer Gillan Navigating New JeresyWoody Guthrie………………………………………………..from Bound for GloryBen Hamper……………………………………………………Excerpt from RivetheadThomas Lynch……………………………………………Excerpt from The UndertakingMichael Moore……………………………………………… Horatio Alger Must Die Henry P. Rosemont………….Benjamin Franklin & The Philadelphia Typographical Strikers of 1786Al Young………………………………………………………Memoir Excerpt