Scargill

i
The dictionary is his Bible. Full stop.

He knows boys who were crushed
with only a handful of adjectives in their tipple tins.

Some words shall always be difficult to pronounce:
Oaks, Huskar, Senghenydd.

ii
He points at the dole-not-coal paddy train,
it will arrive shortly at Platform Do-or-dinosaur.

Rule 41, rules okay, he says
the National Executive Committee says.

Inky corridors begin to infect conservatories.

There could be other words, other skies
but his eyes – blue and infinite – have limitations,
there’s one path lads: picket!

iii
Faces crowd into a crown.

Each step up the mountain creaks like a blue back.
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