Hammers and Hearts of the Gods

by Fred Voss

For the past 30 years Fred Voss has worked as a machinist in various factories in California, transmuting his experiences into three books of poetry. The backdrop of much of his work is the Goodstone Aircraft Company, an oily amalgam of all the places where he has sweated it out on the shopfloor, where each man has to be a virtuoso able to temper brute force with hair's-breadth delicacy. Voss's Goodstone is a bastion of male America where bragging men dominate and cheat each other, boasting of their sexual conquests while trying to come to terms with sexual failure. In this tense, abrasive, rowdy atmosphere, suppressed violence, male bravado and sexual harassment go hand in hand. And when the wounded male lashes out, Voss is there.

Genres: Poetry

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

another collection i read for class, and i actually really enjoyed it. felt quite repetitive at times but there are some really good poems in here.

[Arne]

Fred Voss’s Hammer and Hearts of the Gods strike with relentless honesty and raw power. Voss channels the grit, sweat, and quiet desperation of the working-class life with unmatched clarity, making the factory floor, the streets, and the human heart feel immediate and lived-in. His poems hammer truth with precision, exposing labor, love, and loss without pretense, yet with deep compassion. The language is muscular, the rhythms unflinching, yet moments of tenderness shine through, making the pain and beauty inseparable. Reading Voss is a visceral experience—unforgiving, moving, unforgettable. These works are a triumph of voice and vision. Five stars.

[Giorgia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a 4.5 stars.

When hey told me I had to read a poetry book about factory workers for my poetry class I wasn't excited. I thought I couldn't relate to the poems and the themes explored, but when I read this book I ended up loving it.

[Tôpher Mills · Rating 5 out of 5]

For my money Fred Voss is America’s greatest living poet of working class life. Certainly no other poet writes so wonderfully about work. Vivid, authentic and beautiful, these poems should not be missed.