Red Gold

Catherine Graham
From:   Hammered Out 3. Hamilton: Peter Street Publishing, May 2004.

Red ore. Labrador's gold.
Drew geologists, financiers,
wanting more. Men with plans
to pave the way �
earth open vaults for the rich.

Culverts, tunnels, bridges and tracks,
7000 faces battled the freeze.
Struggled against the ice, the rock,
four cold cutting years. Till fall '54.
The Shirley G. Taylor, loaded with ore,

steamed 2000 tons of it
down St. Lawrence to Dofasco's door.
Aerial bombs. Triumphant flares.
Factories whistled. Watercrafts wailed.
Mayor Jackson greeted the Captain,

the edge of Steeltown (my birthplace) Hamilton.
Given the token to travel the Skyway
I dropped it in my mother's hand.
"There in the harbour, your grandfather's ship."

He died before we ever met.

Poem 1 | Poem 2 | Poem 3 | Poem 4 | Poem 5 | Poem 6

Catherine Graham's works copyright © to the author.