{"product_id":"plastic-a-poem-9781593768034","title":"Plastic: A Poem","description":"\u003cb\u003eSet during a single twelve-hour night shift in an injection molding factory, \u003ci\u003eplastic\u003c\/i\u003e is a book-length poem exploring the life of the industrial worker turned poet\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBringing together memoir, ekphrasis, and satire, plastic is based on Matthew Rice's experience working in a plastic molding factory for ten years. Illustrating alienated twenty-first-century Irish labor in poetic form, plastic engages with the inflictions and implications of a \"post-industrial,\" \"post-Troubles\" society, all while weaving in depictions of factory work from literature, film, and the visual arts. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eTime-stamped to highlight the claustrophobia of the worker's experience, Rice meditates on masculinity, sectarianism, and intergenerational trauma. But at its core is a poem about feeling a calling while being submerged in the world of menial labor--making plastic airplane parts by night, making poetry by day. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eInvoking the brevity of Seamus Heaney, \u003ci\u003eplastic\u003c\/i\u003e is an expansive and imaginative poem that offers the working class a grace, dignity, and truth not often found in contemporary literature.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Soft Skull\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 01\/13\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781593768034\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 256\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.81lbs","brand":"Matthew Rice","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52034434236597,"sku":"9781593768034","price":13.56,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_639e83b0-f09a-442d-9847-58b98b97b068.jpg?v=1763594232","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/plastic-a-poem-9781593768034","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}