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The Pits

Jones Minor

Monday, March 8th, 2004

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 The Pits by Jones Minor

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 It wasn’t quite 20 years ago today
That the coal strike started up,
“Coal not Dole”, the watchwords,
“The Flying Pickets” on Top of the Pops,
Miners in our homes,
Fighting on the telly,
The police on overtime:
The climactic conflict of our times,
When Collectivism succumbed
To the force of self-validating Modernity,
A flameless beacon for Blair
And a New Millennium momentum
Of relentless Americanisation.
No more would colliery winding gear
Bring forth an endless stream of footballers
From the historic coal-fields
Of England, Wales and Scotland;
The legacy of Busby, Shankly and Stein,
Of Co. Ashington, Dudley, Merthyr, et al,
Would be replaced by heritage museums
And mis en scene simulacra,
And by a premier league self-aggrandisement
Based upon a fan base, rather than supporters,
And based upon the canting hypocrisy of management-speak,
That just occasionally reveals its essential inhumanity,
When unironically using phrases like “human resources”.
We’re the only ones who dig deep now,
Just isolated pockets of conflict and conscience.

© Jones Minor

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/the-pits/