Londonderry's Legacy

An assemblage of mine using objects found on the Blast beach, Seaham,(taken on my phone 'scuse the blurries) for edan writers' group current exhibition at the Art Block, Church Street, Seaham, Durham.
Preview this Saturday 1.30 - 3.30. Do call in if you're remotely near and talk to the artists.
All the work is inspired by a despoiled beach in Seaham, known locally as The Blast.
For a hundred years the colliery tipped its waste from the cliffs into the sea. Along with any old tools, chemicals, clothes etc etc etc. They attempted to tidy it up by levelling burying it across a mile long stretch of beach and created a false raised 'shelf' of crap.
This is now being eaten into by the sea, revealing bits of history as it does so.

The geology is fascinating too - a rare outcropping of Magnesian Limestone - with its accompanying flora and fauna. A truly ancient and odd landscape. The title of my poem is a nod to the Londonderry family who came to make their fortune from the coal under Seaham.

Londonderry’s Legacy

Raw Sienna stone slabs,
fat succulent cushions
seated in grey, clay sand.

Metal instead of mollusc,
rust replaces anemone,
sea reveals work boot and shoe,
and smothers all in orange
and yellow and golden ochre.

Limestone emerges from coal,
coke, cack and plastic.
Stale sulphur, catches sour
in my mouth.

And under the cliff
iron pierces stone,
nests in rockpools
anchors history,
fleeting as the tide.

Jac