Conflagration and Wage: The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, 1911

Summary

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A poem is presented.

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Conflagration and Wage: The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, 1911

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory caught fire in New York City on March 25, 191 1. One hundred and forty-six workers perished. The majority of the victims were young women who had immigrated to America. Poor working conditions in die factory, insufficient escape mediods, and die negligence of the building's owners exacerbated the tragedy. The collective outrage after die fire led to heightened support for labor unions as well as significant labor reform.

I. Arrival

The arrival of a dream is never as a seed.

Instead, die vision comes full form.

It stirs the way a dog will startle

in his sleep and bark at air, at shadows.

Rising from her bed, a woman dresses

in the dark. Her brother and her father

snort in sleep. Their snores, she thinks,

are like the sounds of engines sputtering.

She steps into her dress and draws it up

and over what she wears to bed before

she lets the sleeping gown release and fall

abo...

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