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Assembly Line Hymns

Name: Assembly Line Hymns
Price: 3.99 USD
Availability: InStock
Rating: 4.7 (3 reviews)
Author: Walter Greene

by Walter Greene · published via Smithbook

Poems from thirty-four years on the line at a Detroit car plant.

★★★★★ 4.7 · 3 reviews 15 readers English

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★★★★★

"I read the shift-change poem to him on the phone. He was quiet for a long time."

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What it covers

poetryDetroitworkautoworkers

About this book

Walter Greene wrote these poems on the backs of work orders, in lunch pails and on break-room napkins between 1978 and 2012. They are about shift whistles, union halls, Sunday mornings, a marriage, a city that kept getting counted out, and the men and women who built cars with their hands and still had something left to say at the end of the day.

Look inside · First chapter

The whistle is not for us. It is for the ones going home,

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Product details

Title: Assembly Line Hymns
Author: Walter Greene
Format: Digital · browser reader
Language: English
Category: Poetry & Essays
Delivery: In seconds · to your e-mail
Access: Lifetime · any device
Publisher: Independent · via Smithbook

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Reviews

4.7

★★★★★

3 reviews

5★2

4★1

3★0

2★0

1★0

★★★★★ · sha•••@readers.staging.smithbook.test9/23/2026

My father worked Jefferson

I read the shift-change poem to him on the phone. He was quiet for a long time.

★★★★★ · pat•••@readers.staging.smithbook.test9/13/2026

Plain and strong

No fancy words. Every poem lands.

★★★★☆ · ele•••@readers.staging.smithbook.test9/13/2026

Worth it for one poem

The one about his wife’s lunch notes is going on my fridge.

About the author

Walter Greene

I put in thirty-four years on the line at Jefferson North, and I wrote poems on the backs of work orders the whole time. My foreman used to say I was the only man in the plant who could get fired for literacy. He was joking. Mostly. I grew up on the east side, raised three kids on Chalmers Street and buried my wife in 2019. These poems are about the plant, the river, my church, my neighbors and what a city looks like when you stay. My granddaughter typed them up. She says I have to tell you she fixed the spelling.

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