The Smelter, year 2008
I am watching a wreck,
a sleeping cyclope,
a fallen giant.
Born 1906 - or was it 1908?
-It took two years to build.
Then a short century of Life:
Work,
production,
work conflicts,
strikes and factory closure in the 1920-ies,
depresseion in the 1930-ies,
wartime occupation in the early 1940-ies,
new prosperity in the 1950-ies and the 60-ies
- this Smelter, cornerstone of
the modern
welfare society.
For almost one hundred years
the Smelter provided work
to hundreds of men and
housing, food, clothing and a decent life
to their families.
Then, 2003, finally it is over -
no longer viable:
«Get rid of it!»
«Tear the whole shit down!»
But why are they so hateful, these who say:
«Get it down!»
«Get it away, this shit!»
Why this blind anger?
Why?
I am watching a wreck,
a sleeping giant,
a fallen cyclope.
Think about it -
for nearly one hundred years
the Smelter provided income,
life and welfare
to all these families in Odda.
Why not let imagination play?
Why not try to think a little?
Can it be used for something,
this old Smelter and the history linked to it?
Can it still be useful -
this fallen giant
this cyclope
this mammoth
this tired monster
this herculean -
our exhausted elephant
- and all
the stories
behind this huge,
dirty, carbide smelling,
fallen giant’s body -
can it be used for something?
Why such hatred erupts? -
«Tear the whole shit down.»
What is this, actually?
One silent, rainy October Sunday
I climbed in there again,
I was walking up there
on the platform
under the huge rooftop and
I read this inscription
in the soot black window:
Yes,
then I was thinking:
What
was their life,
«small Lars and tiny Kari».
- How
was their life,
and what happened
further?
Ingen kommentarer:
Legg inn en kommentar