Jim Greenhalf
The Angel of the North
Some day I shall go again to Gateshead
to gaze at the place where the Angel of the North
stands, bigger than a Lancaster bomber.
Is it about to take flight or dive to earth?
It is a fixed point of reference like the Pole Star:
men see it and know for certain where they are.
Things like that should be seen from a distance -
a hilltop, a lighthouse, the beckoning finger
of a promontory.
It is not there
to serve a socially-useful purpose
like a school, a hospital, a factory;
nor does it symbolise something men value
but imagine they have lost -
the dignity of labour, an industry,
a way of life, a culture.
Of all the things to materialise
out of the sunset of the century,
men chose to make an angel of welded metal
and made it big enough to make men raise their eyes.
Page(s) 89
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