"Truck with Silos" : A Photo of Boston's Big Dig © Miriam Goodman.

Work has come into its own as a subject of contemporary poetry — something I didn't know would happen when I first made my new corporate life the subject of my poems. I was a thirty-something single mother; I looked for work to support me, my children, and my writing. The software industry took me in as a writer and teacher — work I'm still doing thirty years later. Reading other poets' job experiences and attitudes toward working has been, through the years, a companionship I sought and increasingly find plenty of company in, although work has been a subject of English poetry for a long time. This anthology is brief, the subject, large. I hope it serves to whet your appetite for continued reading and — for those who want to tackle work as subject — for exploration in writing.