Paperwork: An Anthology

by Tom Wayman (Editor)

Paperwork , a provocative sampling of the best new work writing in North America, breaks this taboo. These poems are written by people who build houses and machines, catch fish, take care of children, manage companies, work hard at looking for work, and much more. The writing is funny and tough and sad and angry, and the poems come from insiders - men and women who work for a living.

Praise for Going for Coffee , Tom Wayman's first anthology of work poetry (1981):

" Going for Coffee has a freshness that kept me going through it ... The poems are funny, or horrifying, or just as truthful in some unsuspected way."
-Robert Fulford, Toronto Star

"For me, the work writing fills a large gap in literacy education ... it provides the richness of the human experience in the language of working people, and does so in a rich array of voices - exultant, sorrowful, angry, wry."
-Stephanie Smith, former director, Reading for Life Adult Literacy Program, Watsonville, California

334 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1991

About the author

Tom Wayman has published nineteen poetry collections, edited six anthologies of poets writing about their employment, and published three collections of essays on labour arts. He has taught at the post-secondary level in the United States and Canada and co-founded the Vancouver Industrial Writers Union and the Vancouver Centre of the Kootenay School of Writing. Wayman has been the recipient of several significant literary awards over his career, most recently the 2013 Acorn-Plantos Award for People’s Poetry for his book Dirty Snow.

Reviews

[Lea · Rating 4 out of 5]

A poetry of workers. This theme is a wonderful light to read under. Opening compassion and appreciation for the feeling side of what it is to work. A reminder that people are more than a human resource. This collection was fascinating to me, as these compelling experiences predate my years of contributing to a workforce in Canada. So thankful this was put together.