Journeyman's Wages

by Clemens Starck

"Journeyman’s Wages" is written with the precision of a skilled craftsman. Whether Starck writes about pouring concrete, butchering rabbits, studying Chinese, or confronting questions from his young son, his poetry speaks in precise, clear language rooted in mind AND body. This work was the recipient of two major book the William Stafford Memorial Poetry Award and the Oregon Book Award.

Genres: Poetry

90 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1995

Reviews

[Punk]

Poetry. Starck writes simple observational poetry about construction work, auto repair, and the Pacific Northwest. It reminded me a bit of those cowboy poems, rugged and beautiful, about things that don't get a lot of poetic attention and are filled with the casual confidence of a poet who knows all the words to describe this other world. Some favorites: What We Are Doing, Slab on Grade, Dismantling.

Four stars. I like Starck's style a lot, his clear fondness for his subjects, transparent language, and gentle humor.

[Eva Kahn]

a graceful and astute account of work in the pacific northwest; creates a sense of place that is both comforting and harsh

[GW]

I enjoyed this poetry book. It's one last read before the dumpster where I found it, but Mr Starck was a winner and he still had a brainy connection in his verses.

[Elysian Fields]

This is a really enjoyable collection that brings every day the beauty of poetry to the beauty of every day life. Finding joy in travel, enjoying random aspects of the job, being a blue color worker, these are touched on in these pages and the way they are presented is deceptively simple. I loved reading them. A touch of floating elegance with the solid grounding of a human life. Simply lovely.

[Scott Ballard]

Some very fine poetry weaving the day to day with the sublime beauty of the NW. Favorites: A SUNDAY DRIVE, CHANGING THE ALTERNATOR BELT ON YOUR 504, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT WAKING FROM A DREAM OF MY CHILDREN I GO DOWNSTAIRS AND READ DU FU.

[Maria]

Clemens Starck writes poems about ordinary things--concrete slabs, heavy machinery on a job site, views of Northwest nature, moths. His language is fresh and active. There is a sense of honor, almost holiness, for each small subject (rebar, an empty boxcar, blueberry pancakes, the weariness of manual labor). Starck is like a job site foreman, directing a crane, putting every word and line break just where they need to go. The first eleven poems about workingmen are some of the loveliest, plainest, most solid odes to manual labor I've ever read. It's almost strange how this entire book is filled with mud and dust and sweat, yet there is something like incense permeating the lines. I suppose if Saint Augustine were a bricklayer, he may have written the foreword.

[Joe]

I simply love this book. Clemens Starck is a journeyman carpenter and a Master Poet. He can slop in muck building concrete forms while in his mind stepping back, thinking about the meaning of it all. He's funny, ironic, sad - and mostly he's passionate about work and about life. So many poets don't know diddly about real work. This man knows it in his fingers and in his heart - and he'll make you feel it, too. As a tradesman myself, I return to this book again and again thinking, 'Yep. He nailed it.'

[SmarterLilac]

A nice companion to Mr. Starck's Studying Russian on Company Time. Explores similar ideas--yeoman labor, everyday realities, everyday pressures. I found a whole bunch more Clem Starck in my local new/used bookstore that I hope to get to soon.

[Becky]

Clem Starck was writer in residence at my university for a time. I enjoy his poetry. I don't know how to describe it. Simple. Beautiful. Evocative of the Pacific Northwest.

[Aaron Kent]

I don't read much poetry, but I do enjoy it when I find a good collection. If you've ever been a contractor or worked construction before you might like these even more than you might otherwise.

[Mills College Library]

811.54 S7953j 1995