Hammers and Hearts of the Gods by Fred Voss
For much of his life Fred Voss has worked as a machinist in various factories in California, transmuting his experiences into three books of poetry published by Bloodaxe. 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.
'Voss has driven up and down the California coast for 15 years, with a toolbox in his back seat, getting ?red and hired by various machine shopsOne result is a body of poetry whose directness of address to factory experience is without parallel' - John Osborne, Bete Noire. 'Most of the poems are vivid vignettes of factory life, but they are also much more. They comprise a wide-ranging social-political commentary that exposes class conflict, racial tension, and social injustice. The poems also deal knowingly with male woundedness, insecurity, alcoholism, grief and shame - In all the poems there is an earthy compassion that reflects a true spirituality' - Tom Fulton, Poetry Review
Fred Voss has been a machinist for much of his life, picking up the pen and the wrench to chronicle what goes on between tin walls. He has published three books of poems with Bloodaxe, Goodstone (1991), Carnegie Hall with Tin Walls (1998) and Hammers and Hearts of the Gods (Bloodaxe Books, 2009; Pearl Editions, USA, 2016), and a novel, Making America Strong (World Parade Books, US, 2015). His work has been featured prominently by the magazines Bête Noire in Britain and the Wormwood Review in the States, and he won the 1988 Wormwood Award. Love Birds, a collaboration with his poet wife Joan Jobe Smith, won the 1996 Chiron Prize. He has twice been the subject of feature programmes about his poetry on BBC Radio 4. He lives in Long Beach, California, and works in a nearby factory. Carnegie Hall with Tin Walls is still in print with Bloodaxe but Hammers and Hearts of the Gods must be ordered from Pearl Editions in the US.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781852248468 |
| ISBN 10 | 1852248467 |
| Title | Hammers and Hearts of the Gods |
| Author | Fred Voss |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Bloodaxe Books Ltd |
| Year published | 2009-06-27 |
| Number of pages | 136 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |