Ice Handler
I know an ice handler who wears a flannel shirt with pearl buttons the size of a dollar,And he lugs a hundred-pound hunk into a saloon ice-box, helps himself to cold ham and rye bread,Tells the bartender it's hotter than yesterday and will be hotter yet to-morrow, by Jesus,And is on his way with his head in the air and a hard pair of fists.He spends a dollar or so every Saturday night on a two hundred pound woman who washes dishes in the Hotel Morrison.He remembers when the union was organized he broke the noses of two scabs and loosened the nuts so the wheels came off six different wagons one morning, and he came around and watched the ice melt in the street.All he was sorry for was one of the scabs bit him on the knuckles of the right hand so they bled when he came around to the saloon to tell the boys about it.
Words in this poem
- hunk n.
- A large lump or piece; a hunch; as, a hunk of bread. [Cf. Hunch.]
- saturday n.
- The seventh or last day of the week; the day following Friday and preceding Sunday. [OE. Saterday, AS. Sæterdæg, Sæterndæg, Sæternesdæg, literally, Saturn's day, fr. L. Saturnus Saturn + AS. dæg day; cf. L. dies Saturni.]
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ice Handler is in the public domain. This text is taken from Chicago Poems, Wikisource; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Carl Sandburg, Ice Handler, in Chicago Poems (1916), text of Wikisource, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sandburg-chicago-poems/ice-handler.html, id L28889.
Form and metre
Ice Handler is 7 lines in a single stanza.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I know an ice handler who wears a flannel shirt with pearl buttons the size of a dollar, | 22 | ····/˘···/˘···/˘····/˘ |
| And he lugs a hundred-pound hunk into a saloon ice-box, helps himself to cold ham and rye bread, | 24 | ····/˘·····˘/···˘/······ |
| Tells the bartender it's hotter than yesterday and will be hotter yet to-morrow, by Jesus, | 24 | ··/·˘·/˘·/˘····/˘··/˘·/˘ |
| And is on his way with his head in the air and a hard pair of fists. | 17 | ················· |
| He spends a dollar or so every Saturday night on a two hundred pound woman who washes dishes in the Hotel Morrison. | 34 | ···/˘··/˘˘/˘˘····/˘·/˘·/˘/˘··˘//˘˘ |
| He remembers when the union was organized he broke the noses of two scabs and loosened the nuts so the wheels came off six different wagons one morning, and he came around and watched the ice melt in the street. | 52 | ·˘/˘··/˘·/˘····/˘····/˘········/˘˘/˘·/˘············· |
| All he was sorry for was one of the scabs bit him on the knuckles of the right hand so they bled when he came around to the saloon to tell the boys about it. | 40 | ···/˘··········/˘··············˘/······· |
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