The Factory

The Factory Sharan Strange (bio) Talking about silkscreening, my aunt remembers her first job in New York, decades ago, at the Sample Co. near Chambers St., where she pressed glue through screens and stuck fabric pieces to boards. She was 18, scrawny, and no one’s idea of an employee. In the employment office week after week, she met an ugly girl who made her laugh, and so went home with her. The city was full of people and, forgetting caution, she’d go wherever invited back then, even out to Brooklyn or to Queens. The factory was its own community, a motley group of natives and new arrivals, desperate or hopeful. Married or not, everyone, it seemed, found a lover there. But those who lacked the efficacy of English toiled all day, mute as machines. What became of them? Some escaped her. Others, who were long since hidden, come forward now, pushed by memory’s levers. All left an imprint. The German immigrants, I’ll never forget them: Casamia, the gypsy, and “Crazy Judy,” nervous, saluting the boss with their number tattoos. Gentle Herman, jumping to his feet, clicking his heels. Selected works by Sharan Strange: • First Sight • Hunger • Natural Occurrences • Froggy’s Class: South Carolina, 1969 • Dorothy • Mule • February 19,1994 • Ash • The Unintended Life • The Factory • The Stranger • The Body • An Interview with Sharan Strange Related Articles: First Sight Related Articles: Hunger Related Articles: Natural Occurrences Related Articles: Froggy’s Class: South Carolina, 1969 Related Articles: Dorothy Related Articles: Mule Related Articles: February 19,1994 Related Articles: Ash Related Articles: The Unintended Life Related Articles: The Stranger Related Articles: The Body Related Articles: An Interview with Sharan Strange Sharan Strange Sharan Strange, a member of the Dark Room Collective, teaches literature and social studies at Parkmont School, an independent non-traditional middle and high school in Washington, D.C. In 1995, she received the M.F.A. degree in creative writing from Sarah Lawrence College. She has been in residence at Yaddo, the Gell Writers’ Center, and the MacDowell Colony. Her poems have appeared in a number of periodicals and anthologies, including Agni, Black Bread, Best American Poetry, 1994 (A. R. Ammons, ed.), The Garden Thrives: Twentieth-Century African-American Poetry (Clarence Major, ed.), and Callaloo. Her poems have also been exhibited at the Whitney Museum (New York) and the Institute of Contemporary Art (Boston). She is a native of Orangeburg, South Carolina. Copyright © 1996 Charles H. Rowell

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