Upton Sinclair, ed. (1878–1968). rn The Cry for Justice: An Anthology of the Literature of Social Protest. 1915.
Insouciance in Storm(From The Cry of Youth)
Harry Kemp
(A young American poet who has wandered over the world as sailor, harvest hand and tramp; born 1883)D
Where great-bulked boilers loom
And yawning mouths of fire
Irradiate the gloom,
Made thralls to flame and steam,
Whose bodies, dripping sweat,
Shone with an oily gleam.
While waves boomed overhead
And smote the lurching ship,
The ravenous fires they fed;
They even dared to joke!
I saw them light their pipes
And puff calm rings of smoke!
Over his load of coal—
At which a Fireman laughed
Until it shook his soul:
Whose half-submerged form
On Lake Superior tossed
’Mid rushing hills of storm!