|
|
|
Classic and Contemporary Poetry
ICE HANDLER, by CARL SANDBURG Poet Analysis Poet's Biography
First Line: I know an ice handler who wears a flannel shirt with
Last Line: When he came around to the saloon to tell the boys about it.
Subject(s): Labor & Laborers; Work; Workers
First Line: I know an ice handler who wears a flannel shirt with
Last Line: When he came around to the saloon to tell the boys about it.
Subject(s): Labor & Laborers; Work; Workers
I KNOW an ice handler who wears a flannel shirt with pearl buttons the size of a dollar,
And he lugs a hundred-pound hunk into a saloon icebox, helps himself to cold ham and rye bread,
Tells the bartender it's hotter than yesterday and will be hotter yet to-morrow, by Jesus,
And is on his way with his head in the air and a hard pair of fists.
He spends a dollar or so every Saturday night on a two hundred pound woman who washes dishes in the
Hotel Morrison.
He remembers when the union was organized he broke the noses of two scabs and loosened the nuts so
the wheels came off six different wagons one morning, and he came around and watched the ice
melt in the street.
All he was sorry for was one of the scabs bit him on the knuckles of the right hand so they bled
when he came around to the saloon to tell the boys about it.
Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!
Other Poems of Interest...
AFTER WORKING SIXTY HOURS AGAIN FOR WHAT REASON by HICOK. BOB
DAY JOB AND NIGHT JOB by ANDREW HUDGINS
BIXBY'S LANDING by ROBINSON JEFFERS
ON BUILDING WITH STONE by ROBINSON JEFFERS
LINES FROM A PLUTOCRATIC POETASTER TO A DITCH-DIGGER by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS
IN CALIFORNIA: MORNING, EVENING, LATE JANUARY by DENISE LEVERTOV