Transformations Poem by Roger Hudson

Lifted from murky foul-smelling scum-covered tanks
Brown wax peels back
Chrome magic glistens

The steaming misty battlefield of the foundry
Its sandpiles of knocked-out moulds
Revealing still redyellowglowing smouldering castings
Flames flickering in newfound air
In daily fantasy world
Of sweat hard work application
Time-served cunning

Hard grey chunk of steel alloy
Turned
Milled
Drilled
Ground
Now this side
Now that side
Careful calculation of
Metal strength
Cutting tool
Tool speed
Cutting angle
Emerges
Shining multi-faceted component
Of engine
Turbine
Machine tool

Dull bodywork metalwork
Rolls through paintbooth
Sprayed
By man in mask and goggles
By robot arms in jerky elegance
Red green blue
Bright-coloured
Dictator of our environment

Schoolboy
Dullard at maths
No interest
What's the point in that
Blossoms with hand eye brain
Sheer human apprentice skill
When sees a reason
To make something new
To do the magic on it