December 15th

The poet, Murial Rukeyser was born this day in 1913. Ms. Rukeyser poetry captured many tradgedies of the 20th century. "The Book of the Dead", published in 1938, commemorates the worst industrial accident in U.S. history. In Fayette County, West Virginia, while building the Gauley Tunnel hundreds of men died of acute silcosis in the early 1930's. In 1944, Rukeyser published, the poem,"To Be A Jew in the 20th Century"..."Judaism as a gift." The American Reformed Reconstructionist movements used the poem for their prayer books.
It is important to note that Ms. Rukeyser journeyed to the locations of her writings.
Or as she wrote, "Breathe in-experience, Breathe out- poetry."