Calling Him Back From Layoff By Natasha Trethewey

409 Words2 Pages
"Calling Him Back from layoff" is a powerful and poignant poem written by United States Poet Laureate, Natasha Trethewey. The work speaks to the impact of industrial decline and the aftermath of the changes that globalization has brought upon the US working class. The poem is a poignant and evocative reminder of the human cost of industrialization on the lives of those who build and develop the American economy.
The poem uses a powerful blend of imagery and metaphor to convey its message to the reader. The opening lines of the poem introduce the speaker's encounter with her father's tool shed, creating a sense of nostalgia and sentimentality about the industrial past of the US. The use of the tool shed as a metaphor for industrial decline and