No gloves #bakery #oven

Sorry if my memory is imprecise,
if I don’t get all the facts straight,
but I so member marveling, stopping,
watching how he worked.
 
This was my orientation of sorts,
not yet on the job training, working,
walking on a tour of the bread factory,
Where I would spend many weeks.
 
I was transfixed for a few moments,
watching how he worked,
a combination of brute force
and the repetition he knew…
 
Standing at the bread oven,
catching the pans as they crashed out,
hot from the cooking, ready,
to be sent on down the line.
 
I was a bit bolder than I should be,
asking how long he had worked there,
thirty-six years old and eighteen years,
right after graduating high school.
 
Why I remember a five-minute conversation,
now forty-five years since those moments,
is that his hands were thick-calloused yellow,
and on those hands he had no gloves.

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February 24, 2024
No gloves
 
&
February 24, 2024
Two shirts hanging
https://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2024/02/two-shirts-hanging.html
Sweating at the roll oven,
No door to the oven,
no exhaust hood…
&
February 23, 2024
Making the dough
https://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2024/02/making-dough.html
The mixing room on the top floor
of Holsum Bakery (formerly Goddard Bakery)
Maple Street, Claremont, NH,
Summer of 1979,
after my first year of college.
I worked 14 weeks on the roll oven
 
All of my poems, photographs, and videos are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024. All rights are reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss (raymondafoss@gmail.com) for usage. See all 53,000+ of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.
 
Poetry, bakery, factory, industrial, dough, rolls, oven, bread, mixer, work, memories, Claremont, NH, summer, heat, Holsum Bakery, Goddard Bakery, Country Kitchen,
 
#Poetry #bakery #factory #industrial #dough #rolls #oven #bread #mixer #work #memories #ClaremontNH #summer #heat #HolsumBakery
 
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Poetry, bakery, factory, industrial, dough, rolls, oven, Claremont, NH, summer, heat, Holsum Bakery,
 
#Poetry #industrial #bakery #breadfactory #rolls #oven #ClaremontNH #summer #heat #HolsumBakery
 
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Poetry, bakery, bread factory, bread oven, hands, callouses, gloves, Claremont, NH, summer, heat, Holsum Bakery,
 
#Poetry #bakery #breadfactory #breadoven #hands #callouses #gloves #ClaremontNH #summer #heat #HolsumBakery