Macho The Builders Strut Poem by Roger Hudson

Macho the builders strut
Careless
Of life and limb


Always wear a hard hat on site
Says the safety officer
Like the guys
And don't go on the rooftops


Macho the builders strut
Careless like cats
Pacing rapidly rooftop high
Without safety harness or helmets


Don't be daft, says the foreman.
They won't stop work and come down
Just so you can interview them

Is it a dare?

So up the scaffolding
On the roof we go
In hard hat, wellies

To interview roofers, tilers, plumbers doing flashing

About their work, their jobs

For careers leaflets

Photograph them


Macho the craftsmen stroll
Muscled like gorillas


Dares
To lift a hod like the brickie's mate
To shin down a scaffold pole as a shortcut
In the shipyard
To crawl into double bottoms of half-built ship
With fearsome clanging noise of caulkers and platers
Into immaculate chrome-lined silence
Of new-built atomic reactor
Pace through dark and fiery foundry
Dodging tubs of molten metal


Macho the craftsmen
We must prove ourselves
Equally macho
To win their casual confidence