A.K. Whitehead
Job Dissatisfaction
We cut the timber for exacting patterns,
planed, drilled, screwed, varnished shapes
to precise requirements that seemed
like abstract art only the initiated knew
would ultimately look so different
in the metamorphosis from wood to iron,
in the frustration of seeing moulders take them,
ram them round with clinging sand,
bash them loose for extractions
that left their progeny:
dark systems of depressions
then enclosed, entombed to wait....
Sulphur penetrated every lung
and liquid iron poured out like threats
from molten gates of hell, carried in crucibles
from mould to mould,
tipped like white Guinness
down waiting black throats, overflowing up the vents.
When the rage subsided they broke the sand away
revealing…dull grey shapes that said
“You would have better spent the time
making cabinets and chairs”.
Page(s) 15
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