Showing posts from category: photography
Shoe Factory
Sunday, March 15, 2015
Shoe Factory is a poem I wrote for the 2006 print edition of 52nd City magazine. It was for the Work issue. I'm posting it now only because I just found a bunch of photos from the factory, circa 1989.
I. Delma
Delma tripped right over herself and she fell hard.
She’s a big lady anyways, way over six-foot.
Her glasses went flying and she landed on her back.
There wasn’t nothing on the floor for her to slip on, so I don’t really know why she landed on her back.
But damn if she didn’t. And right away she goes to moaning.
Oh God it hurts.
You got my glasses, Annie?
Just leave me alone…leave me alone.
Don’t touch my arm…oh, my arm hurts.
Oh, God…it hurts.
I panicked, got my cold wash rag out of my lunch cooler to put to her forehead,
while Paula went running and screaming for the factory nurse.
I didn’t want to make too much of a fuss.
Sometimes when someone falls
they feel so embarrassed,
they go to moaning just to justify the commotion.
Then here comes about a dozen or more people
all millin’ around while Delma turns red
and Barb, the floor boss everyone hates
(but she’s always been real nice to me)
comes over and tells everyone
Get back to work, people!
But it’s break time by now anyway,
so there’s not much she can do to make us mind.
Soon enough Gladys and her blonde beehive are on the scene,
with Beverly and Bernice waddling not far behind.
They got cold packs with them and start asking a bunch of questions
while Delma just moans and tries to tell them where it hurts.
I’m sitting on a glue bucket listening in on all the racket.
It happened by my rougher, and there’s nowhere else to go.
Gladys rushes off for a wheelchair and Delma gets carted out the cafeteria door
where her husband is supposed to pick her up.
Her arm is all swollen up
like a poison pup,
is what Bernice said.
Delma came back with her arm in a cast.
She tried to work.
As a floor boss, all she does is walk around making sure we’re roughing the shoes right.
But she said her Tylenol made her dizzy, so she’s been gone for almost a month.
Carol Ann says Delma’s bringing a lawsuit against the company.
But they already paid her bills and she got workman’s comp
so I don’t know what all she’s suing for.
Carol Ann says she heard Delma wants me to testify for her because I saw it all.
I don’t know what I could say
except that she fell.
II. Ed & Stacey
Ed wears the same polyester pants to work every day.
When it gets hot he rolls them up,
But goes into the bathroom to do it
because the extra material’s all folded up inside.
He wears long tube socks,
with stripes at the top,
and short brown suede boots.
He’s only about 22. He thinks he’s
real cool.
He drives a rusted-out gold Chrysler
with dice hanging from the rearview mirror
(naturally)
And can’t help but leave the gravel parking lot by peeling out.
Bill and Danny told me one day
Ed went up to the MFA to buy feed
and he was wearing a dress.
It wasn’t no joke either. That dude is messed up.
Even Ed’s brother, Stacey, says Ed’s got dresses hanging in his closet.
And that’s big news in Jonesburg.
Whenever I have to ask Ed about overstock,
he pretends not to hear, says,
Do what now, hon?
sort of syrupy and touchy-feely with my arm.
He’s this way with almost everyone.
Ed and his brother Stacey both give me the creepers.
Stacey asks me this same question
every single time
I pass him in the 120-degree warehouse
Hot enough for ya?
And
every single time
I have to hear his goofy laugh afterwards.
Even after I tell him to shut up,
he laughs.
Dumb motherfucker.
Rumor’s that Stacey and Ed’s mom and dad are second cousins.
I’m not saying it’s true
but how else can you explain those two?
III. Charlie
Charlie works up in the loft of the warehouse.
It’s the hottest place in the factory.
He wears the same clothes for a week at a time.
Whenever you go upstairs
You know to breathe in hard on the trip up --
It’s not just going to be hot at the top,
but smelly too.
I pick my loft orders in the morning,
before it gets bad.
I used to feel sad for Charlie, watching him walking to and from work,
(he lives way outside of town),
But Danny says Charlie blows his whole paycheck on beer
and has a slew of kids at home.
So I don’t feel as sorry for him like I used to.
Bernice told me Charlie’s wife died last summer.
Charlie never called the police or no one.
He waited a couple a days and put her dead body in the car with a blanket over it,
then drove her to Kansas where all her kin were.
Bernice is a lot of things, but she ain’t a liar.
IV. Pauline
My grandma started working at the shoe factory again.
She wants me to go out and eat lunch with her in her hot old car
every day.
She tries to make me eat all the extra food she brings and
every day
she tells me
every thing
she ate the day before because she is
always
on a diet and
never
loses any weight.
One day
Will walked by while we were sitting in her car.
That damned Indian.
I asked her what’s wrong with Will?
And she goes to telling me this big long story about how Will
was going out with Mary Conrad’s daughter, Brenda
until Ellen, the factory owner’s daughter, started working in the office.
Well he dropped Brenda just like that.
She snaps her fingers.
Started shacking up with Ellen.
That damned fat Indian.
And I want to ask her
What the hell does being an Indian have to do with it?
Wasn’t your dad part Indian?
But I know she’d just get mad
and try to make me eat the rest of her grapes.
Shoe Factory
Delma tripped right over herself and she fell hard.
She’s a big lady anyways, way over six-foot.
Her glasses went flying and she landed on her back.
There wasn’t nothing on the floor for her to slip on, so I don’t really know why she landed on her back.
But damn if she didn’t. And right away she goes to moaning.
Oh God it hurts.
You got my glasses, Annie?
Just leave me alone…leave me alone.
Don’t touch my arm…oh, my arm hurts.
Oh, God…it hurts.
I panicked, got my cold wash rag out of my lunch cooler to put to her forehead,
while Paula went running and screaming for the factory nurse.
I didn’t want to make too much of a fuss.
Sometimes when someone falls
they feel so embarrassed,
they go to moaning just to justify the commotion.
Then here comes about a dozen or more people
all millin’ around while Delma turns red
and Barb, the floor boss everyone hates
(but she’s always been real nice to me)
comes over and tells everyone
Get back to work, people!
But it’s break time by now anyway,
so there’s not much she can do to make us mind.
Soon enough Gladys and her blonde beehive are on the scene,
with Beverly and Bernice waddling not far behind.
They got cold packs with them and start asking a bunch of questions
while Delma just moans and tries to tell them where it hurts.
I’m sitting on a glue bucket listening in on all the racket.
It happened by my rougher, and there’s nowhere else to go.
Gladys rushes off for a wheelchair and Delma gets carted out the cafeteria door
where her husband is supposed to pick her up.
Her arm is all swollen up
like a poison pup,
is what Bernice said.
Delma came back with her arm in a cast.
She tried to work.
As a floor boss, all she does is walk around making sure we’re roughing the shoes right.
But she said her Tylenol made her dizzy, so she’s been gone for almost a month.
Carol Ann says Delma’s bringing a lawsuit against the company.
But they already paid her bills and she got workman’s comp
so I don’t know what all she’s suing for.
Carol Ann says she heard Delma wants me to testify for her because I saw it all.
I don’t know what I could say
except that she fell.
II. Ed & Stacey
Ed wears the same polyester pants to work every day.
When it gets hot he rolls them up,
But goes into the bathroom to do it
because the extra material’s all folded up inside.
He wears long tube socks,
with stripes at the top,
and short brown suede boots.
He’s only about 22. He thinks he’s
real cool.
He drives a rusted-out gold Chrysler
with dice hanging from the rearview mirror
(naturally)
And can’t help but leave the gravel parking lot by peeling out.
Bill and Danny told me one day
Ed went up to the MFA to buy feed
and he was wearing a dress.
It wasn’t no joke either. That dude is messed up.
Even Ed’s brother, Stacey, says Ed’s got dresses hanging in his closet.
And that’s big news in Jonesburg.
Whenever I have to ask Ed about overstock,
he pretends not to hear, says,
Do what now, hon?
sort of syrupy and touchy-feely with my arm.
He’s this way with almost everyone.
Ed and his brother Stacey both give me the creepers.
Stacey asks me this same question
every single time
I pass him in the 120-degree warehouse
Hot enough for ya?
And
every single time
I have to hear his goofy laugh afterwards.
Even after I tell him to shut up,
he laughs.
Dumb motherfucker.
Rumor’s that Stacey and Ed’s mom and dad are second cousins.
I’m not saying it’s true
but how else can you explain those two?
III. Charlie
Charlie works up in the loft of the warehouse.
It’s the hottest place in the factory.
He wears the same clothes for a week at a time.
Whenever you go upstairs
You know to breathe in hard on the trip up --
It’s not just going to be hot at the top,
but smelly too.
I pick my loft orders in the morning,
before it gets bad.
I used to feel sad for Charlie, watching him walking to and from work,
(he lives way outside of town),
But Danny says Charlie blows his whole paycheck on beer
and has a slew of kids at home.
So I don’t feel as sorry for him like I used to.
Bernice told me Charlie’s wife died last summer.
Charlie never called the police or no one.
He waited a couple a days and put her dead body in the car with a blanket over it,
then drove her to Kansas where all her kin were.
Bernice is a lot of things, but she ain’t a liar.
IV. Pauline
My grandma started working at the shoe factory again.
She wants me to go out and eat lunch with her in her hot old car
every day.
She tries to make me eat all the extra food she brings and
every day
she tells me
every thing
she ate the day before because she is
always
on a diet and
never
loses any weight.
One day
Will walked by while we were sitting in her car.
That damned Indian.
I asked her what’s wrong with Will?
And she goes to telling me this big long story about how Will
was going out with Mary Conrad’s daughter, Brenda
until Ellen, the factory owner’s daughter, started working in the office.
Well he dropped Brenda just like that.
She snaps her fingers.
Started shacking up with Ellen.
That damned fat Indian.
And I want to ask her
What the hell does being an Indian have to do with it?
Wasn’t your dad part Indian?
But I know she’d just get mad
and try to make me eat the rest of her grapes.
Random Photo Goodness
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
{Source}
Beautiful stories and photography
More unforgettable photography
Paris homes. Slightly pretentious but some good ideas and photography.
German photographer Andreas Kaiser
Funhouse
Francesca Woodman: Independent Lens documentary
Kin: Four Ladies
Tuesday, August 06, 2013
More from the kin file folder of images. I'm not sure who any of these women are, but they are somehow related to me. A little foreboding, no?
Veteran Grandpa
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
At our Thanksweenie celebration last weekend, my mom and aunts were telling the funniest little stories about my grandpa in his final years. Like how much he loved Judge Judy, which I never knew. He served in WWII, had lots of schrapnel scars, and although they always had a pool, I never saw him in it. I always heard that he never liked the water because of his time in the war. I'm not sure what happened. I should have posted this on Veteran's Day. I feel so much empathy for veterans and the sacrifices they make and their families make. My grandparents were such sweethearts.
This was taken at the farm where my grandmother grew up.
Brag
Monday, October 08, 2012
How cute is this girl?
"I know. Let's start an idea club."
"Let's play the humming song but I'm not going to make any sound and you tell me the song."
"Mommy, I love you more than cupcakes and ice cream."
{Our first proof from yesterday's photoshoot with Jess Dewes.}
Brinkop Park
Thursday, October 04, 2012
I don't remember how I discovered Brinkop Park, in the middle of a residential area of Shrewsbury, but it is my favorite park - plenty of shady spots, hardly anyone ever there, clean restrooms, quiet and manageable. I especially love taking photos at Brinkop. The way the sidewalks intersect the playground areas, the lines on the basketball court, and those magnificent blue poles of the swingset, make all kinds of interesting divisions and planes to play with. I would like to use these as studies for future paintings.
Jess Dewes
Wednesday, August 01, 2012
My friend Jess Dewes, is such an amazing photographer. I've bragged on her countless times, but really, the woman can snap. This was at a playdate. Just the girls goofing around. Gorgeous. And below is one of my favorite pictures of all time. Even though you can't see Audrey's face, it completely captures where we were at the time. Our little family starting out, so grateful for all that we have. Each other. She makes people feel instantly at ease and it shows in her photos - often playful or relaxed. See more on her website or her blog.
Vintage Photos - Couples
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
More photos from the family files. The only people I know are the elderly (last) couple - my great grandma and grandpa Phillips. I never met him. He looks tall and just a little mean.
These Days
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
These days: sake tasting, birthday party, and outside play. Can't complain. Except maybe about the oranges. My husband thought the squirrels would like them, but we have had no takers.
Vintage Photobooth
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
It's been a while since I've posted any photobooth shots. I forget how many I have. When I worked at the gallery, Tim kept most of his vintage booths there, so often, I had ample time before an event to experiment. Lindsey and I have oodles from our courtship. Who doesn't love photobooths? Everyone looks great in them. Especially the vintage variety. Check out the vintage photobooth pool on flickr for some real beauties from the past.
- With Tracy at Katy's wedding (2010)
- With Lindsey after a long night of cooking and/or working at the gallery (2005-2006?)
- With Katy and Lindsey (2004)
- Just me (2006?)
Random: End Annie One Way
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
OBSERVATION
If I don't drive around the park,
I'm pretty sure to make my mark.
If I'm in bed each night by ten,
I may get back my looks again,
If I abstain from fun and such,
I'll probably amount to much,
But I shall stay the way I am,
Because I do not give a damn.
-Dorothy Parker
Kin: Couples
Wednesday, November 09, 2011
I haven't posted any photos from my "kin folk" files in a while. All of these couples are from a CD given to my dad by one of his cousins who has been researching the genealogy on the Phillips side of the family for several years. I'm crazy about vintage photos and have been a minor collector over twenty years. I'm so grateful to have these digital versions of family—even if the only person I know is my Great Aunt Georgie in the second photo.
Kin: Great Aunts
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
More from the vintage archives of my family.
Front row left to right is Edith(?), Georgia, Pauline (my grandma), and Hester. The short woman in the back row is my great grandma Stella. I am assuming most of the other women are my great aunts. My grandma had a 14 brothers and sisters, and all the boys had rhyming names.
This picture cracks me up. Great Aunt May and Edith ALWAYS looked like this. And leaning on the back of my grandma's Ford Escort with a pile of wood and tractor behind them--priceless.
Kin: Vintage Photos
Thursday, June 23, 2011
We are spending part of our vacation with my parents, two brothers, and two nephews. So in celebration of kin, here are some more from the family photos file. Not sure who most of these are, except for the first photo. That is my grandma on the far left (dig those sandals!) and my great grandma in the middle.
Wrapping The Week
Friday, May 27, 2011
Memorial Day weekend means going to my cousin's lake for camping (maybe), swimming (maybe), and picnicking (for sure). We are eager to enjoy good weather. Yesterday, rained in again, Audrey and I painted, play-doh'd, baked a layer cake, and had at least 27 tea parties. I also think she set a world record for saying the word "booty" in one day.
I have jury duty on Tuesday. This site with artwork created by those on jury duty inspired me to bring a notebook and do some sketching.
One of my dreams is to convert a church into a house.
Excellent collection of vintage photobooth shots.
The photography on Jonathan Levitt's blog Grassdoe has had me swooning all week.
I'd like to add velocity, maximize, and pinged to this list.
I loved this book as a child. Would like to find a vintage copy.
This is the embroidery project I've decided upon for the long drive to Colorado. It is funny and will complement my Cameron Fuller piece.
Cripes, I need to start sewing.
Beautiful, Loved, and Blessed. Happy Weekend.
Cows
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
I'm in a "theme" mood this week. Balloons...cows...what will tomorrow bring?
{Top to bottom: From my vintage photo collection, my brothers about 28 years ago, my dad's cows, me getting a milking lesson c. 1993, papier-mache cow c. 1944}
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)