Tag Archives: Philip Levine

“I had had a dream, and that dream was a warning of what might happen to me if I rejected what I’d been and who I was.”

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 … Continue reading

Posted in memoir | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

“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 … Continue reading

Posted in poetry | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

“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 … Continue reading

Posted in poetry | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment