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Poets and artists

Impressions of the Fossil Trade in Dudley (1845)

Impression i
In Bloomers Yard
In Bloomers Yard he shows her what he’s found.
She says as how, "A bibble’s just a bibble",
stares blankly at the rock that’s in his palm.
"A creacha med of stone! That cor be natrul."

John cleans his 'foss-ul' like the barber showed him.
A needle frees the locust from the lime.
"Ar’ll get sum coins fuh this." he proudly tells her;
tight lipped she pegs the washing to the line.
(Things haven’t been the same since Dad was blinded
And Thomas lost - a roof fall in the mine).

Now, he clatters home across the cobbles
to give her shiny coppers like he’s planned,
And look! It seems he’s held the coins so tightly
they’ve left a mark, their imprint in his hand.

Impression ii
Roberts’ Barber Shop in Castle Street
The day is slow, a buzzing fly annoying.
He works the razor up and down the strop,
a gent is peering through the open doorway,
the barber, greedy eyed, notes mutton chops.

Red mutton chops! The accent of a scot.
He’s come for fossils not for barbering,
has heard there might be trilobites for sale.
"I bought one off a miner lad this morning!"
The barber smiles. A hefty price is asked
then duly paid! "I thank you, sir, for calling."

Above the barber’s shop the books are balanced;
a fossil record dints the page; a weight
of silver tips the scales in Roberts' favour.
"It’s trade and commerce meks this country Great!"

Impression iii
A Temperance Coffee-house in Dudley
He savours the unwrapping at his lodgings;
the stone is quite the best that Miller’s seen.
In every plate and joint of head and back
there lies perfection. Fossilised. Pristine.

Amid the ancient seas this calymene
succumbed, to be preserved in tropic mud,
it’s genesis provokes so many questions.
Where does this leave Noah and the flood?
The length of days? A singular creation?
A theory that retains a place for God?

These weighty thoughts, like fossils, leave impressions.
His mind is overworking. Hints of strain.
In years to come he’ll make his final trade-off
a pistol shot to quell his burning brain.

*bibble – Black Country word for a rock or pebble