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Poetry


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Black Country

By jillrabbit

06 December 2007

I promised my brother that I would make people aware of the Black Country bid in the people's 50 million lottery bid. I grew up there and he still lives there. If you don't know where it is, wiki it!

Coal pits and limestone tunnels
Deep in the earth
Man-made! The workers dug,
A hive of industry,
For all above.

Caverns rose beneath.
Cathedrals underground
Hewn beauty from dense rock

Still many toiled
In the land of Mordor
Running black and red
With fiery furnaces
Chained and nailed

The rolling mills
Blasted smoke into their lungs
Iron hearted folk
Who worked the black seam
Thirty foot across
A boundary no human could define.

A million souls captive now
Mighty industries have ended
But are not forgotten
In the Black Country

Reviews

Written by audrie (451 comments posted) 7th December 2007

I think we should all give praise to those men who did the terrible job of working the coal mines, and even women and children long before that.

Tell your brother you did a good job.

Written by Josie (2785 comments posted) 8th December 2007

I know the Black Country well because I grew up near to Stourbridge. Brierley Hill, Cradley Heath, Quarry Bank, The Lye, Kingswinford and all the way to Dudley. Well written Jill. There was also our wonderful glass industry, but where is that now? Royal Brierley, Web Corbett Crystal, Stuart Crystal etc etc. All gone?

And I, too, was in Arcadia...
Written by SammoR (111 comments posted) 8th December 2007

A few years ago, I did have the privelege of working at Dudley - and occasionally in Stourbridge and Halesowen. Lovely people - lovely dialect!

I remember how the accent of the schoolchildren barding the bus 9 changed abruptly as the bus crossed into Halesowen from Quinton...

Okay, back to the poem. Brilliant stuff, very evocative. It pulls you to learning more about the BC if you knew nothing about it before.

'Mind 'ow you gow, and stay owt o' t'orse rowd!'

('Take care now and stay out of the part of the road where the horses go').

Written by Lizzy (800 comments posted) 9th December 2007

I live on the edge of the Black Country in Halesowen and it is a truely fascinating place. The Black Country Museum is a real treat. My husband's family from Stourbridge were owners of a chain making factory.
I would love to see the tunnels opened up!

Really enjoyed the poem Jill and very well put!

'Tara a bit!'

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