The Art of Work

by Jen Fitzgerald

Poetry. THE ART OF WORK takes but a moment of our history and offers it up in hopes that we may see more clearly the realities of a segment of working America. Centering around the Meat Cutter's Union of New York City, UFCW Local 342, the poems bear witness to real people, job sites, and stories. They offer new access points into the lives that exist past those solitary moments. This collection does not make art of work, it merely frames the beauty already present in our toiling, our labor, and our survival.

Genres: Poetry

86 pages, Paperback

Published September 1, 2016

About the author

Jen Fitzgerald is a poet, essayist, photographer, and a native New Yorker who received her MFA in Poetry at Lesley University and her BA in Writing at The College of Staten Island (CUNY). She is the host of New Books in Poetry Podcast, a member of New York Writers Workshop, and was a Bread Loaf 2014 Conference participant. She teaches/has taught creative writing workshops she developed to mine personal narrative, interrogate synaptic leaps in our writing, and work in hybrid forms to nurture “voice,” for LitReactor, Split This Rock, New York Writers Workshop, and the New York Public Library. Her first collection of poetry, “The Art of Work” was published by Noemi Press in September of 2016. Her essays, poetry, and photography have appeared/are forthcoming in such outlets as PBS Newshour, Harriet: The Poetry Foundation Blog, Tin House, Boston Review, Salon, New England Review, PEN Anthology, & Colorado Review among others. She now divides her time between N.Y.C. and D.C. where she is at work on a few exciting projects and collaborations.

Reviews

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

A powerful and beautiful work of poetry that finds art in the lives of those who do manual labor - the waitress, the factory worker, the slaughterhouse employee. Drawing on her family's and her own experiences, she highlights the exploitation and abuse of laborers, but it is never preachy. Instead, she finds nobility and honor in those who bust their physical bodies in a struggle to get by. This book deserves a wider audience and is highly recommended.