Just like those men from nineteen-ten
Heroic and unsung
The coal-dust blind and crooked spined
Brave men with blackened lung
Who crawled through dust that could combust
With just a spark and draft
Through tunnels which as black as pitch
Branched off the central shaft
Who slowly hauled the coal and crawled
Like soldiers under fire
On hands and knees and had to squeeze
Through spaces dark and dire
Whose helmet beams shone on the seams
Of coal like streams at night
Who gave their lives to feed their wives
And lost their lungs and sight
So too we plumb the depths for some
Great fabled vein of ore
We brave the pit in hopes we'll hit
The mother-lode of lore
We mine our souls like glory holes
For all their wealth and worth
And just as they went down each day
Deep in the bowels of earth
So too we go way down below
Where it's as black as night
And go through hell like them as well
To find the source of light
A contest entry
- ANYTHING GOES!! PIF by Jade.Butterfly.
2000 points, ended April 23, 47 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
What did you think
Comments
1 - 5 of 5
-
Almost David-Michaels-goes-Billy-Bragg. Moody stuff. I like it.
-
I liked this alot, coming from a Ironstone mining area, you touch a deep nerve here. We are so lucky to be soul miners rather than the other kind, well done
-
Omgosh!
You know i could actually picture these guys mining for coal.I saw more than you wrote which is a good thing. This poem sung out on many levels.
Very emotional indeed. Great write.
good luck in contest and thanks for entering -
I reiterate the sentiments of u.f. below but was really sad to see the overt sexual reference to glory holes. Being of an inquisitive mind, however, I now understand that there is a glory-hole method of ore extraction and that the words were indeed chosen carefully. A pity the sex pervys had to commandeer a great phrase! So, to the educated it is a great read, but to some, they will probably take the same stumble I did as popular culture bastardizes the language. Three thumbs up with a triple toe-loop twist!
-
Oh my gosh, I haven't read a poem like this for a while, the poem that shows the harshness and reality of living like that, about those people that should never be forgotten because they worked really hard just to feed their families and the pain they endured; just for a small glimpse of hope.
I love the realness of this, and I don't know if this is personal or not but the way you wrote it, I could feel every word as if it was being spoken from a person themselves.
Loved this, good luck in the contest.
Adding your comment:
1 - 5 of 5
