Judy Grahn, in her introduction to her collection The Common Woman, says that the piling-up of many images or events in one poem is characteristic of working-class writing. But of course one characteristic doesn't make a "poetic." I would add that poetry written by someone of poor or working-class origin–regardless of whether the author has obtained a middle-class education or income–is often strongly marked by honesty (the blunt kind) and "disruptive" or "unpleasant" emotions "forbidden" to those with middle-class upbringings: Anger. Bitterness. Self-pity. Finger-pointing. Depression (unless diagnosed and treated – medicalized). Self-aggrandizement which is an obvious antidote against a sense of inferiority. Worldviews or politics often dogmatic (cf. Marge Piercy, Alice Walker).

How do the circumstances of the working-class writer affect the writing produced?

First of all, there will not be a lot of literary production from any one working-class writer – cf. Tillie Olsen – unless under unusual circumstances such as sudden commerical success (cf. Richard Wright, Dorothy Allison).

The working-class poet almost always ends as a writer of prose. In some cases the writer's literary production may include journalism, which should not be overlooked when assessing the work of any writer whose goal, at least some of the time, necessarily had to be money (I'm thinking of Richard Wright, Frank Marshall, Zora Neale Hurston). (We wouldn't ignore the photo-journalism of a fine-art photographer, would we?)

Alternatively, there may be a lot of production of writing (as in journaling) but no publication; the journaling movement has effectively diverted a lot of poor and working-class writers from finding, creating, or making use of, public forums. In addition, poor and working-class writers may not know how one goes about publishing one's work, or how to promote it. They may never see a living, breathing, published writer, much less get to know one. The lack of social/psychological support for their writing will usually also curtail the amount of writing accomplished. It is also hard to persist in asserting that writing is your work when the people around you define "work" as physical labor. In essence, a working-class writer writes without a role model, a mentor, or economic or psychological support. No wonder there are so few of them.