Work

     In America, Labor Day happens in September, when summer is over and everyone goes back to work. But much of the rest of the world celebrates May 1st as International Workers Day, gathering for parades and speeches in the fresh air of springtime.
     IWD was established in the late 19th century  to support people campaigning for humane working conditions and the eight-hour day. This was back when robber barons brought in private militias to massacre striking union members. One event that finally brought about laws to keep workers safe was the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire. More than a hundred women and girls died because of that blaze. Many of them jumped to their deaths rather than be burned alive. The high windows were their only way out; management had locked all the doors to make sure nobody took an unauthorized break.

  
     The Triangle fire is mentioned in this poem by Robert Pinsky called "Shirt." It's a powerful tribute to the unseen hands that labor for our material comfort, and a reminder that without those hands, very little in our society would work at all.