The Dudley Eye

This poem was commissioned, via the wonderful, beautiful and amazing Poetry on Loan people, by Dudley Council.

It's an advert for the much maligned DY Eye (DY is the Dudley post code).

I arrived in Dudley at 11, and was gone by 3. This is the result:

The Dudley Eye

Come see the Ferris wheel in Stone Street Square,

A hundred feet and more up in the air!

   A showpiece for this market town,

   To take you up and round and round.

Providing views of simply everywhere.

Come see the Ferris wheel in Stone Street Square!

Then ride this whirling wheel, this DY Eye,

Whose machinations elevate on high,

   To see such things as we admire,

   Look there: Top Church’s iron spire!

You’ll catch the whole of Dudley moving by,

When riding on this giant DY Eye.

You’ll notice, from the comfort of your seat:

The pattern of each medieval street,

   The Library, a Georgian square,

   Freemason’s Arms, the Town Hall there!

This Dudley Eye’s a memorable treat,

Where history and modernism meet.

Black Country dreams of revolutions past,

But this wheel’s revolutions don’t move fast,

   Her pace of quiet dynamo,

   Will let you turn three times each go,

So get here soon – a month is all she’ll last:

The DY Eye, a Dudley bostin’ blast!

Don't click here!