In line for the exterminator : poems / Jim Daniels.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Daniels, Jim, 1956-

Series:

Great Lakes books.

Great lakes books

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

American poetry--20th century.

American poetry.

Detroit (Mich.)--Poetry.

Detroit (Mich.).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (129 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Detroit : Wayne State University Press, c2007.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

A collection by one of America's foremost poets of city life and work, In Line for the Exterminator brings Jim Daniels back to his native Detroit. In Line for the Exterminator is the final collection in Jim Daniels's trilogy of books explaining the urban working-class landscape. Daniels, who grew up near the Eight Mile Road boundary between Detroit and suburban Warren, Michigan, walks the razor's edge of the borderline in this collection, examining complex issues of race and class that are a part of daily life there. The title poem, "In Line for the Exterminator, " sets the ironic tone for this collection, examining a group of people waiting in line for a sinister-sounding amusement-park ride. Daniels presents blue-collar culture both in and out of the workplace, showing its profound influence on the lives of workers and their families. As in Places/Everyone and M-80, Daniels uses his character Digger to show the effects of work on outside life, following Digger into retirement from his factory job and into his struggle to find a new future. In addition, Daniels deals frankly with the specter of urban violence that haunts the community and threatens to tear it apart. Local heroes, from professional wrestler the Sheik to the contemporary rapper Eminem, also appear as touchstones for the community's complex view of itself. How do ordinary citizens sustain hope and dignity in the face of economic and societal upheaval? How do people avoid the mirages offered by drugs and alcohol, or the intoxication of guns and crime? In Line for the Exterminator offers no easy answers but presents searing portraits of individuals struggling with these questions and finding small victories and moments of consolation in their everyday lives. Those interested in poetry, depictions of working-class city life, and Detroit social history will enjoy this significant volume.

Contents:

Cover

Contents

1 In Line for the Exterminator

I. Last Picked

Last Picked

Sugar, Sugar

Balancing the Checkbook

Open House, Science Fair Project

Self-portrait with Cigarette

Slaughter Ball

Chocolate for Football

Black Vinyl

Cool

FM Radio, 1971

Looking It Up

Detroit, 1972

Safety

At Dinner, My Father Informs Us He's Been Laid Off

Elegy for the Sheik

Cyclone Fence, Detroit

Petrified

Death Seat

Dreamscape

Border Crossing

Abandoned, Detroit

Sandy Had the Kind of Laugh

II. Digger's Body Shop

Digger, The Short Days

Digger's Lawn Care

Digger's Leak

Digger Laid Off

Digger's Bad Reception

Digger Gets a Checkup

Digger Kills Time at the Clock Restaurant

Digger's Body Shop

Digger Gives Away the Bride

Digger Watches the Neighbors Move Out

Digger Swallows the Worm

Digger Loses His First Tooth

Digger's Donnybrook, Senior Softball

Digger Turns in His ID

Digger's Property Assessment

III. The Shelter of My Father's Coat

Can't Sleep

American Cheese

Hot Dog Variations

Pastime Lanes Lounge

Hooked

Driving Past the County Jail

Herbs and Blood

Identity Theft

Arguing about Guns, Again

In the Shadow

Breath for My Mother, August

Sweating Bullets at "Sarah's Hair Spot"

Sunday Morning

Early Recess

Outrage at the Laundromat

Punching the Numbers

Allergic to Bullets

The Shelter of My Father's Coat

Acknowledgments.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

ISBN:

9780814335482

0814335489

OCLC:

777595287