Reread this excellent working class collection of poetry last week for research purposes. There are 159 poems in the book, mostly from Voss's perspective. He worked as a machinist, usually on the Californian coast, for 30 years. In many of the poems he is employed by the Goodstone Aircraft Company, a fictitious firm which represents an amalgam of the several companies which Voss worked for.
The poems are written in highly transparent, free verse style and he includes a vast range of observational detail about factory life which is fascinating and often humorous in a wry, but humane way. You can't make this shit up! Particularly compelling is Voss's take on such things as dodgy work place practices, the good humour & the practical jokes workers play on each other, the strange habits of workers, and the general inefficiencies of the system.
Find a recent interview with Voss here: http://blues.gr/profiles/blogs/west-coast-poet-fred-voss-talks-about-the-jazz-blues-bukowski
Find 87 of Voss’s poems on Penniless Press here: http://www.pennilesspress.co.uk/poetry/fred_voss.htm
