"Piece Work"

"Charlie, the first-shift foreman at the textile mill, is proud to say, 'What I do means something in this world.' Other workers--Tonisha, Sherry, Jimmy, Bill--could say so too but probably won't. In Piece Work, one of the strongest, most truthful books of poetry I have ever read, Barbara Presnell says it for them, to them, with them, in lines of pure and heartfelt respect. Here are some words--courage, exhaustion, hope, despair, persistence, defiance--never spoken but always profoundly lived. In this fine poet's hands, they are more than words."
—Fred Chappell

"One does not know which to admire more in this collection--its fierce documentary honesty, or the perfect pitch of its imagined speakers. The two come together memorably in poem after poem, giving us deep and abiding insight into industrial and post-industrial America. This, too, is part of poetry's task: to tell what happened, and why it still matters."
—Jared Carter

"Only a skilled and seasoned poet such as Presnell can succeed in putting anecdote to music. But the exceptional poet goes even further, lifting the narrative thread occasionally into lyricism."
—Danny Romine Powell, The Charlotte Observer

"Piece Work deals with more than the workday. It demonstrates the mill as community: folks enjoying the company picnic, sharing cucumbers from home gardens, showing off their babies. . . . With each re-reading, the collection grows more authentic, more moving, the voices mingling in a chorus. . . "
—Sally Buckner,  The (Raleigh) News and Observer

"Through these familiar characters, we feel the beauty and the meaning of ordinary people who keep the world turning."
—Lorraine Ahearn, The (Greensboro) News-Record

  Purchase "Piece Work"

  Purchase "Piece Work"