chain coral Chorus
In my previous projects, like Bella and my poetry pamphlets, I've spent a considerable amount of time thinking about the Black Country's liminal qualities - the marginal, unmappable and off-kilter landscapes and cultures that become symbolically charged spaces in my work. Part of this is how communities and cultures exist and express in its post-industrial context.
As mentioned in my first blog post, the connections between industry and community, and between industrial community and Geology are important and fascinating intellectual pathways - often rhizomatous in nature. Rhizomatous, like the foundations of geopoetry. As such, it's not just the Geological significance of the region that enables these poetics, it's the gorgeous slippery nature of Black Countryness which mirrors the gorgeous slippery slopes of geopoetry. The Black Country is not quite north and not quite south. It's a strange mix of green space and grey space. Much of its culture is based on its industrial past, but this heritage has been ruined, renovated and built over. It sits in the shadow of its more successful brother Birmingham - but we’re definitely not brummies; we have our own flag, set of dialects and recognisable cultural artefacts, arenas and personas and yet no one can really settle on where the region begins and ends. This, coupled with its post-industrial position means that the landscape and genius loci is one of marginality and liminality. The things we do know for sure, or at least imagine for sure, is that Black Country identity and spaces are bound up in the forges, steelworks, glassworks, nail makers and chain makers - what was called The Cradle of the Industrial Revolution. What is also clear is that this was enabled by the coal seams and rich mineral resources in the region. These grounds, like the chain coral, built webs of housing estates, worker’s institutes, pubs and religious places - solid communal chain links. Solid and lost - another in-between - like the geology beneath the surface. I believe these overlooked, liminal grounds are ripe for entering and re-entering to bring about that topographic reverie that Kenneth White discussed, and to look into building McKay's poetic crossing point. This is a statement of intent as Poet in Residence for the Black Country Geological Society. Comments are closed.
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January 2022
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