Many people think of nature or love when they think of poetry. But poetry is about everything, reflecting all aspects of our lives, including our world of work.

The recent passage of Labor Day reminded me of a poem by James Oppenheim. The title, "Bread and Roses," was used as a slogan by mill-working women who carried signs in Lawrence, Mass., from January to March in 1912. Their signs read, "We want bread and roses, too."

Oppenheim's poem follows:

As we come marching, marching, in the beauty of the day

A million darkened kitchens, a thousand mill lofts gray

Are touched with all the radiance that a sudden sun discloses

For the people hear us singing, Bread and Roses, Bread and Roses.

As we come marching, marching, we bring the greater days

The rising of the women means the rising of the race

No more the drudge and idler that toil where one reposes

But a sharing of life's glories, Bread and Roses, Bread and Roses.

Working people the world over made the poem famous. As a tourist, I saw the phrase "Brot Und Rosen" on a picket sign in Berlin.

Other poets, such as Carl Sandburg, gave us workers poetry, loosely called political poems.

Today, well-known poets give us "Poets Against the War," edited and collected in a book by Sam Hamill in 2003. Poets including Rita Dove and Maxine Kumin share their feelings.

Carolyn Kizer's poem contains the words, "Not all our children's pleas and women's fears could steer us from this hell."

But male poets are equally explicit. Stanley Kunitz writes: "Remember that we once could say, yesterday we had a world to lose." Lawrence Ferlinghetti, San Francisco's first poet laureate, includes these lines in one of his poems: "And they are shipping all the young men to the killing fields again. … And no one speaks."

Another poetic category is science. In June I had a poem included in a scientific themed anthology, "Riffing on Strings." The book, wedding current thinking about string theory to creativity, is found in most bookstores. In addition to essays by well-known scientists, readers will find poems and stories by fiction writers using the theme of string theory.

Science and technology is one category in the annual poetry contest presented by the California Federation of Chaparral Poets, the oldest poetry organization in the state. Winners have come from all over California and the nation, and their take on science has been as varied as using the solstice, hearing aids and lasers as metaphors or the main theme of a poem.

Poetry is everywhere, and these examples should prove that the subjects are as broad as the world is round. Poetry is written by both sexes and all ages, it can be serious or comic, and poets can be professional or write only to please themselves and their families.

Recently, I received two poems and a nice letter from Nicholas Crnko of Roseville. He wrote, "I'm amazed at how many opportunities there are for children and young adults to compete in poetry contests, but I rarely find opportunities for seniors."

One of the joys of poetry is that it is written by people of all ages. Many senior citizens win contests. Some contests are age-specific, but most aren't. No one knows whether you're 16, 60 or 80.

Cleo Fellers Kocol is a writer and poet who started out writing humor for the Burlington County Times in New Jersey.