poem: A weekly poem, read by the author.

"Two Million Feet of Vinyl"

By Jim Powell
Posted Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2006, at 6:38 AM ET

Click here to listen to Jim Powell read this poem.


The grinding wheel
requires one hour to ride six feet along its rails
traveling on a sheen of oil
driven by hidden gears. Its spinning rim just kisses
the surface of the vinyl-coated cylinder

clamped in the lathe
rotating slowly in the opposite direction
and every particle protruding
above the calibrated level is sheared off
as it passes, leaving behind a roller face

perfectly smooth
so airbrushed photographs of the cooked colored fruit
are replicated without blemish
and look natural on the labels of canned peaches.
The wheel's abrasive face obliterates all flaws

as it revolves,
the grind removes obtrusive abnormalities,
the cannery press prints clean and true,
no kinks, no smear. Each can of fruit produced entails
a label, labels require printing, and presses need

rollers polished.
One man can tend six lathes. Punched-in on the time clock
six feet an hour for eight-hour shifts
five weekly, forty-eight weeks a year, that's two million
feet of vinyl in a lifetime ground to powder.

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Jim Powell was the Sherry Poet at the University of Chicago in fall 2005. The January 2007 issue of Poesia (Milan) includes 15 translations of his work by Carlo Anceschi. He lives in Berkeley, Calif.
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