Voices in the Coalshed: Pit Wood Walk

Pit Wood Walk by Volunteer Dave.

Pliable hazel

Fashioned by basket weavers

Youngsters hurrying

Willow withies wave

Where once the headstock wheels turned

Fast grown biomass

Oaken wagonways

Endured trundling of coal trucks

Timber strutted staithes

Norwegian spruce sown

And sawn to prop up the world

In-by colliers

Pear cut and seasoned

Fine grain planed smooth and prepared

Fresh inked for the press

Hickory chosen

For the pick handle and shock

Iron head on rock

Or ash wood maybe

For that hard driving hammer

The banjo perhaps

Alder may be best

Turned into clogs or charcoal

Propping up Venice

Lignum vitae weighed

In the hand of a collier

Becomes light relief

Ginko – Dawn Redwood –

Araucaria fallen

Petrified darkness