Philip Levine’s essay “Entering Poetry,” describes the day he began writing about the people he had worked with in Detroit auto factories. “When I closed my eyes and looked into the past, I did not see the blazing color of the forges of nightmare or the torn faces of … Read More
Tag: Philip Levine
“Can you taste what I’m saying?”
The poem continues: “It is onions and potatoes . . . it is obvious. . .” This is how Philip Levin conceptualizes truth in the poem “The Simple Truth.” I’m often reminded of this gritty, elegant poem when I scrub potatoes for dinner. He writes, “Some things you know all … Read More
“We stand in the rain in a long line waiting at Ford Highland Park. For work.”
What is work? This is the question that poet Philip Levine, who died last Saturday, asked many times. He started working in a Detroit factory at age 14. He believed that his work as a poet was “to name and recover,” and to stand up for the “victimized, the … Read More