“I had the good fortune, in the mid-1970s, to be invited into a creative writing class as an audit student—my introduction to the craft of engaged poetry,” writes Susan Eisenberg in her March 21 Labor Notes post. “A few years later, in 1978, federal affirmative action opened construction jobs and apprenticeships to women, and I entered Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 103’s apprenticeship, in what would become their first class to graduate women—five of us.” Eisenberg’s post includes a terrific poem, “Almost Killed Myself: Day One, Apprentice Electrician” as well as a call for poetry submissions to both
Labor: Studies in Working Class History, where she’s Poetry Editor, and LHF’s weekly newsletter. Check out the post for Labor’s submission guidelines; LHF newsletter submissions may be sent to us at info@laborheritage.org.
photo: Susan Eisenberg used to give readings of her It's a Good Thing I'm Not Macho poems sitting atop a four-foot ladder, wearing a diamond hardhat, an image from the poem "Hanging In, Solo."