In Verse is a multi-media project that combines poetry, photography and audio footage to create "documentary poems" for radio, the web, print and iPhone.

This installment of features poet Susan B. A. Somers-Willett and photographer Brenda Ann Kenneally as they document the lives of working mothers in Troy, New York. This new work grows from Kenneally's multi-year reporting project. upstategirls.org/

Labor historians have argued that Troy was the prototype for the industrialization of America and “the most important city during the Industrial Revolution.” Troy’s beginnings stand in stark contrast to its current social conditions. Today, roughly one-fifth of the population lives below the U.S. poverty line; most families in Troy survive on minimum wage jobs.

In Verse comes to you from Public Radio Makers Quest 2.0, an initiative of AIR, the Association of Independents in Radio, Incorporated. This project is made possible with funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. In Verse is also generously supported by Virginia Quarterly Review. Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen is the broadcast partner for In Verse. In Verse was created by Ted Genoways and Lu Olkowski.