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Paul Tulloch is a contributor to the minnesota review.
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Published Spring 2007
 
Poems from the "Being at Work" Poetry Challenge
The "Being at Work" Poetry Challenge started off as a small attempt to add to the historical compendium of work poetry a cross section of worker voices from contemporary times. The contest opened for submissions in early 2006 and ran until the end of the summer. Its objective was to reach out to people from all walks of life and collect poems from both the shop floor and the home floor on the feelings, nuances and experiences of working people. To enhance accessibility, the contest was divided into two streams, one for beginning and emerging poets and another for experienced poets.
At the close of the contest, over 700 poems were submitted by poets coming from as many as nineteen different countries across the world. Approximately 65% of the submissions came from the United States and Canada, with a handful received from places such as Russia, India, Western Europe, Thailand, and Australia.
The judging panel was made up of a unique set of judges. Tom Wayman, Maureen Hynes, and Susan Eisenberg served as judges with an extensive and world-class poetry background. The contest supplemented their poetics with the abilities of the leaders from three of the larger Industrial Unions in North America, that included Basil "Buzz" Hargrove from the Canadian Autoworkers, Ken Neumann from the United Steelworkers, and Dave Coles from the Communication, Energy, and Paperworkers Union. The inclusion of the labor leaders was instrumental in opening the doors for the contest to garner submissions from workers who may not have otherwise submitted. The three unions also pitched in and funded the prize money for the winning entries.
At the end of the day, or year in this case, the contest was successful in collecting and putting together an extensive and unique compendium of voices from the floor. Many individuals helped out with the organizing and coordination of the contest, and the list would include too many to name here. Their work and help was much appreciated and the project would not have been successfully completed without their giving. If it were not for their work I would still be getting on the city bus on my commute to work, especially on a Monday morning in the middle of winter, wondering why so many people at 7:00 am have the same silent look of displeasure on their faces. I knew why I did, and I had a hunch why others did, but now I know for sure. |
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MR BOOKS
Critics at Work
ed. Jeffrey J. Williams.
Critics at Work offers a guided tour through the central, sometimes confusing and frequently controversial developments in contemporary literary and cultural criticism. The tour guides, however, are not distant observers but have been primary participants in those developments, and they report on theory, cultural studies, the literary canon, the recent focus on race, sexuality, and other identities, the state of the univerisity, and the role of the intellectual. Throughout, they consider the not always easy negotiation of politics and culture.
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