Poet's Corner

WHEN IT’S GONE IT’S GONE

26-11-2007

The Stirrer’s poet laureate Brendan Hawthorne has rhymes adorning the giant new Morrisons opening in Wednesbury today – a sure sign of changing times. As is the fact that the old Black Country factory where he spent the first 18 years of his working life has just been demolished to make way for housing.

The noise

The heat

The dust

The sweat

The laughter

and the song

lie bulldozed

in brown-field

camaraderie

Crumbled into

the industrial waste

of asbestos-riddled

oil-coated

expectancy

There’s no-one left

to be sent

to the stores

for a long wait

and a glass hammer

No-one left

to hear tall stories

suspended in mid-air

on sky-hooks

by characters

in overalls

with imagination

and a joke to share

No jack-the-lad to ‘phone

the attractive

new tannoy operator

with made up

names to announce

Don Kiddick 241 please

Don Kiddick……..

Around the plasma tank

profile planner

there are no more sparks

no more pops

and crackles

or slag edge chippings

The east wing

lies silent

Seam welders

shot blasters

fabricators and

planishers

have clocked–off

from the close down

The fitters

the sparkies

the painters and welders

Designers

buyers

labourers

fork-lift truck drivers

cleaners

and white collar

team players

are left to their

mortgages

their families

and their debt

Because after

one hundred and fifty years

of production

tradition

quality design

invention and

market place identity

long hours

low pay loyalty

and commitment

another factory closes

Management

deciding

to move to

greener fields

cheaper labour

and a lost

brand name

in a vain attempt

to drive

production costs down

and in the process

lend a hand

in building

a new housing estate

for a redundant

work force

with a diminished trade

Copyright Brendan Hawthorne 2007

Will the new Asda destroy Wednesbury?

Or breathe new life into it?

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