William Carlos Williams: Porous: Six Poems, 1921-1941 | The disappearing jobs of yesterday | The Wreck of the American Star

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Security personnel have lunch at the Auto China 2018 motor show in Beijing. Photo Jason Lee: image via Reuters Pictures @reutersiuctures, 26 April 2018


The disappearing jobs of yesterday: In Argentina, an umbrella fixer Photo @chatoeitan #AFP: image via AFP Photo @AFPphoto, 26 April 2018
 

 In Bulgaria, Vessela Draganova, a camera repairwoman Photo @dilkoff #AFP: image via AFP Photo @AFPphoto, 26 April 2018


In India, Daya Shankar, a typist who types up legal documents Photo @sanjaykaojia07 #AFP: image via AFP Photo @AFPphoto, 26 April 2018


In Bangladesh, Mohammad Joynal, an ear cleaner Photo @uz_munir #AFP: image via AFP Photo @AFPphoto, 26 April 2018


  In Costa Rica, a shoe maker Jesus Lopez Photo Ezequiel Becerra @chatoeitan #AFP: image via AFP Photo @AFPphoto, 26 April 2018


In Bulgaria, a bookbinder Kalin Daskalov, aka Stopan Photo @dilkoff #AFP: image via AFP Photo @AFPphoto, 26 April 2018


In India, Syed Zafar Shah runs a gramophone repair operatior Photo @sajjadkmr #AFP: image via AFP Photo @AFPphoto, 26 April 2018


 In Egypt, a darkroom technician Mohamed el-Maymony Photo @amakar #AFP: image via AFP Photo @AFPphoto, 26 April 2018


In Colombia, Street clerks are experts in filling out forms, documents and even in typing letters, to help their clients with paperwork Photo @laacostacastro #AFP: image via AFP Photo @AFPphoto, 26 April 2018


In Uruguay, a clockkeeper Abdel Ghaffar Photo @pdporciuncula #AFP: image via AFP Photo @AFPphoto, 26 April 2018

William Carlos Williams: Porous: Six Poems, 1921-1941

Group of automobile crankshafts in junkyard, near Abbeville, Louisiana: photo by Russell Lee, November 1938  (Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Collection, Library of Congress)

 Automobile parts at junkyard, near Abbeville, Louisiana: photo by Russell Lee, November 1938 (Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Collection, Library of Congress)

William Carlos Williams: Sketch for a Portrait of Henry Ford, 1939

Scrap and salvage depot, Butte, Montana (detail): photo by Russell Lee, October 1942 (Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Collection, Library of Congress)

A tin bucket

full of small used parts
nuts and short bolts
slowly draining onto
the dented bottom --
forming a heavy sludge
of oil -- depositing
in its turn steel grit

Hangs on an arm
that whirls it at increasing
velocity around
a central pivot --
suddenly the handle gives
way and the bucket
is propelled through
space  . . . . .

William Carlos Williams (1883-1963): Sketch for a Portrait of Henry Ford, 1939, from Matrix (November-December 1940), in Poems 1939-1944 (1944)

Scrap and salvage depot, Butte, Montana: photo by Russell Lee, October 1942 (Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Collection, Library of Congress) 

Scrap and salvage depot, Butte, Montana (detail): photo by Russell Lee, October 1942 (Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Collection, Library of Congress)

 
 

The car plummeted off the road into a black abyss.: image by Fiction Illustrated, c. 1953
 

William Carlos Williams: The Term, 1937

  Great Depression: unemployed, destitute man leaning against vacant store, San Francisco: Dorothea Lange, 1935 (Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum)

A rumpled sheet
of brown paper
about the length

and apparent bulk

of a man was

rolling with the

wind slowly over

and over in

the street as

a car drove down

upon it and

crushed it to

the ground. Unlike

a man it rose

again rolling

with the wind over

and over to be as

it was before.

Great Depression: man dressed in worn coat lying down on pier, New York City docks: photo by Lewis W. Hine, 1935 (Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum)

William Carlos Williams (1883-1963): The Term, 1937, from Poems 1936-1939 (1939)
 
William Carlos Williams: Porous, 1938

San Francisco Social Security Office: photo by Dorothea Lange, 1937 (Dorothea Lange Collection, Oakland Museum of California)

Cattail fluff 
blows in
at the bank door,

and on wings
of chance
the money floats out,

lighter than a dream,
through the heavy walls
and vanishes.

Thirteen Million Unemployed Fill the Cities (Unemployed men, San Francisco): photo by Dorothea Lange, 1937 (Dorothea Lange Collection, Oakland Museum of California)

William Carlos Williams (1883-1963): Porous, 1938, from Poems 1936-1939 (1939)

William Carlos Williams: two from Sour Grapes

Field of daisies and orange flowers, possibly hawkweed, Vermont: photo by John Collier, June 1943 (Library of Congress)

William Carlos Williams: Daisy, 1921

The dayseye hugging the earth

in August, ha! Spring is

gone down in purple,

weeds stand high in the corn,

the rainbeaten furrow

is clotted with sorrel

and crabgrass, the

branch is black under

the heavy mass of the leaves --

The sun is upon a

slender green stem

ribbed lengthwise.

He lies on his back --

it is a woman also --

he regards his former

majesty and

round the yellow center,

split and creviced and done into

minute flowerheads, he sends out

his twenty rays -- a little

and the wind is among them

to grow cool there!

 

One turns the thing over

in his hand and looks

at it from the rear: brownedged,

green and pointed scales

armor his yellow.

 

But turn and turn,

the crisp petals remain

brief, translucent, greenfastened,

barely touching at the edges:

blades of limpid seashell.

 

Daisy (Bellis perennis): photo by Friedrich Böhringer, 2007 

William Carlos Williams (1883-1963): Daisy, from Sour Grapes (1921)

William Carlos Williams: Arrival, 1921

East Side Interior: Edward Hopper, etching, 1922; image by Thomas Shahan 3, 20 August 2011 (Whitney Museum of American Art)

And yet one arrives somehow,
finds himself loosening the hooks of
her dress
in a strange bedroom --
feels the autumn
dropping its silk and linen leaves
about her ankles.
The tawdry veined body emerges
twisted upon itself
like a winter wind . . . !

Evening Wind: Edward Hopper, etching, 1921; image by Thomas Shahan 3, 30 November 2011 (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York)

William Carlos Williams (1883-1963): Arrival, from Sour Grapes (1921)

William Carlos Williams: The Thing, 1948

Student life in Radcliffe dormitory: photo by Lynn Miller, n.d., c. 1960s (Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America)

Each time it rings
I think it is for
me but it is
not for me nor for

anyone it merely
rings and we
serve it bitterly
together, they and I
 
William Carlos Williams (1983-1963): The Thing, from The Clouds (1948)

Bell Telephone System advertisement for telephone service: Better Homes and Gardens, 1 October 1930 (Gallery of Graphic Design)



Bell Telephone System advertisement for telephone systems: Life, 12 December 1936 (Gallery of Graphic Design)



Bell Telephone System advertisement for telephone service: Time, 15 June 1942 (Gallery of Graphic Design)

 

Bench, Austin, Texas: photo by Gary Gumanow, May 2012, posted 6 February 2013
 


Bell Telephone System advertisement for telephone service: Coronet, 1 August 1954 (Gallery of Graphic Design)

William Carlos Williams: The Petunia, 1941

Purple petunia: photo by Zirguezi, 2008

Purple!
for months unknown
but for the barren sky.
 
A purple trumpet fragile
as our hopes from the very
sand saluting us.

Petunia hybrid ("Sweet Sunshine"): photo by Mira, 2008

Petunia hybrid ("Sweet Sunshine"): photo by 3268zauber, 2009

William Carlos Williams (1883-1963): The Petunia, from Poems 1941 (1941)

Bill Cosby accusers (L-R) Caroline Heldman, Lili Bernard and Victoria Valentino react after the verdict. 'I feel like my faith in humanity is restored,' Bernard told reporters. Photo @mark_makela: image via Reuters Pictures @reuterspictures, 26 April 2018


#UK Lookalikes of Britain's Prince William, Britain's Prince Harry and Britain's Prince Charles, Prince of Wales pose for a picture in a hot-tub on the Thames to celebrate the forthcoming marriage of Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markel in London. Photo @lealolivas #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 26 April 2018
 

#India Models wait for their turn to walk out on the ramp during a fashion show at the Shazada Nand College in Amritsar. Photo @nanuworld #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 26 April 2018
 

#Myanmar View of ferries travelling from capital Sittwe river port in Rakhine state near Bangladesh border. Photo @ye_aung_thu #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 26 April 2018

The Wreck of the American Star

Wreck of the American Star (formerly SS America), seen from the land side, Fuerteventura, Canary Islands: photo by Wollex, 2 July 2004

In abjection after all those variously profitable for various operators years fallen into hands of Greek investors brokedown N Atlantic sprinter w/High Am-Imperial art deco bar and smoking room thorobred now forced much as balky work horse onto storm wracked course in red weather. Second attempt at passage back out into Atlantic interrupted -- propeller screw shot, captain restive.  The driven hulk brought near the parlous shore. Abrupt uplift coming aground on the sandbar. The pounding relentless waves, the ship breaking imminent, futility of whole enterprise apparent now toward end of one-hundred-day tow, crew choppered out, Ukraine tug detached from tow line; nature left to recover its own rusting rejectamenta, gull perched on remnant of funnel uninterestedly looking on.

 
Hull of the SS America under construction at Newport News, Virginia: photographer unknown, 1938 (US Maritime Commission / Library of Congress)


 
Shipbuilding. Newport News, Virginia. A small section of the shipyard, showing an overhead travelling ("Gantry") crane in the foreground. There are two lanes on which ships are being built visible in the picture. The ship at far background is the S.S. America: photo by Alfred T. Palmer, October 1941 (Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Collection, Library of Congress)



Newport News, Virginia. General view of the fitting and repair slips at Newport News, Virginia. The S.S. America can be seen in the background. The ship in the adjacent slip is a tanker: photo by Alfred T. Palmer, October 1941 (Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Collection, Library of Congress)



S.S. America, United States Lines, Ballroom I: Eggers & Higgins, architect, Smyth, Urquhart & Marckwald, decorator (the New York modernist interior decorating firm of Miriam Smyth, Anne Urquhart and Dorothey Marckwald were the first female interior designers of an ocean liner): photo by Gottscho-Schleissner, Inc. (Samuel Gottscho/William Schleissner), 3 August 1940 (Gottscho-Schleissner Collection, Library of Congress)



S.S. America, United States Lines, Barroom I: Eggers & Higgins, architect, Smyth, Urquhart & Marckwald, decorator: photo by Gottscho-Schleissner, Inc., 3 August 1940 (Gottscho-Schleissner Collection, Library of Congress)



S.S. America, United States Lines, Barroom II: Eggers & Higgins, architect, Smyth, Urquhart & Marckwald, decorator: photo by Gottscho-Schleissner, Inc., 3 August 1940 (Gottscho-Schleissner Collection, Library of Congress)



S.S. America, United States Lines, Smoking room, looking to bar: Eggers & Higgins, architect, Smyth, Urquhart & Marckwald, decorator: photo by Gottscho-Schleissner, Inc., 3 August 1940 (Gottscho-Schleissner Collection, Library of Congress)



S.S. America, United States Lines, Smoking room, looking to mural: Eggers & Higgins, architect, Smyth, Urquhart & Marckwald, decorator: photo by Gottscho-Schleissner, Inc., 3 August 1940 (Gottscho-Schleissner Collection, Library of Congress)



S.S. America, United States Lines, Smoking room, end detail: Eggers & Higgins, architect, Smyth, Urquhart & Marckwald, decorator: photo by Gottscho-Schleissner, Inc., 3 August 1940 (Gottscho-Schleissner Collection, Library of Congress)



S.S. America, United States Lines, Swimming pool: Eggers & Higgins, architect, Smyth, Urquhart & Marckwald, decorator: photo by Gottscho-Schleissner, Inc., 3 August 1940 (Gottscho-Schleissner Collection, Library of Congress)
 

 
S.S. America, United States Lines, Shopping centre I: Eggers & Higgins, architect, Smyth, Urquhart & Marckwald, decorator: photo by Gottscho-Schleissner, Inc., 3 August 1940 (Gottscho-Schleissner Collection, Library of Congress)


 
S.S. America, United States Lines, Desk detail, Suite U49: Eggers & Higgins, architect, Smyth, Urquhart & Marckwald, decorator: photo by Gottscho-Schleissner, Inc., 3 August 1940 (Gottscho-Schleissner Collection, Library of Congress)


 
United States Lines advertisement: Time, 17 August 1953 (via Gallery of Graphic Design)

Returned to the United States Lines and converted back to civilian service on 31 August 1946, the America continued to carry passengers between New York and Europe into October 1964, when, with the advent of stiffer international competition in the transoceanic shipping business and the success of the larger, more luxurious United States, she was sold to the Chandris Line, a Greek firm, renamed Australis and operated as a passenger ship on cruises to the Far East and South Pacific into 1977. Between 1978 and 1994 the ship's condition deteriorated as she changed ownership several times. In 1993 she was renamed American Star and on New Years Eve left Greece for the last time, under tow by a Ukrainian tugboat and bound for Thailand where she was to be refitted as a five-star luxury hotel ship. Heavy North Atlantic thunderstorms broke the tow lines; the American Star was abandoned and left adrift, with the forward part of the ship aground on a sandbar; under the assault of heavy surf, within 48 hours she had broken in two just past the second funnel. Her fate entangled in negotiations between owners, towing firm and insurance companies, she was now in the hands of nature. On 6 July 1994 she was declared a total loss. In 1996 her stern section collapsed completely to port side and sank, with the bow continuing to remain intact. In November 2005 the port side of the bow section collapsed. With the remains of the ship now listing sharply, her remaining funnel detached and fell into the ocean. The hull now began to break up;  by October 2006 the wreck had collapsed almost completely onto its  port side. In April 2007 the starboard side collapsed, the wreck broke in half and fell into the sea, with the remains slowly disappearing beneath the waves. As of February 2012, only a few feet of the once proud liner remained above water line.

   

Wreck of SS American Star (formerly SS America), grounded at Fuerteventura, Canary Islands: photo by Pindakas, December 2003


 
Wreck of the American Star (formerly SS America), front view (cropped): photo by Wollex, 2 July 2004

 

Wreck of the American Star (formerly SS America), seen from middle distance, Fuerteventura, Canary Islands: photo by Wollex, 2 July 2004
 

 
The former SS America, now beached and disintegrating on the island of Fuerteventura: photo by Ian Pullen, September 2006


 
Shipbreaking in progress: wreck of the SS American Star: photo by Michael Wunsch, 9 August 2007


 
Front section of the wrecked and sunken American Star: the last visible part of a grand old lady of the world's oceans: photo by Thomas Fietzek, September 2009