Tramline iron ore
Curtain of liquid steel
Red and gold
On the train today
Passing through that secret country
Of my grandfather’s veins
Jet of blue from chimney
Bellows of smoke
The furnace a Hell I failed.
Eston Hills’ mines
The railways lines
A removed varicose vein.
My grandfather’s tramlines meet
At the place we never could
Eston Nab.
Fifty yards away from furnaces
The train’s scenic route
Even when I trod the Black Path
I was no nearer
This poem references the second largest blast furnace in Europe, which is located equidistant between Middlesbrough and Redcar. There's a public path, Teesdale Way or The Black Path (on account of all the ash), that you can walk. This is the same path iron workers from nearby Southbank and Whale Hill used to use to go to work. The steel industry in the northeast of England is now almost nonexistent.
Chris Stewart is a local performance poet from Middlesbrough. His penchant for audience participation has had him ironically dubbed the "Audience Alienator." Described as "oscillating between genius and lunacy" Chris always strives to entertain. Videos of his performances can be found on the Youtube channel "Zorki28". He is the current poetry editor of Sentinel Literary Quarterly www.sentinelquarterly.com. Submission should be sent to poetryeditor@sentinelquarterly.com.