Between L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E and Lyric: The Poetry of Pink-Collar Resistance

The poets who are the subject of this paper, clerical workers Chris Llewellyn, Karen Brodine, and Carol Tarlen as well as waitresses Jan Beatty and Lenore Balliro, make use of such divergent strategies as a means of resisting what sociologist Arlie Hochschild calls the "emotional labor" of women's work. The feminized service occupations of waitressing and clerical work require a gendered performance of self-effacement that involves suppressing anger and nurturing co-workers and customers. The poetry of these workers explicitly resists such confining scripts by offering counter-performances, in which the waitress or secretary pointedly calls attention to her presence.