Written by Elanor Rose
The sun set, flame red, there was no delay.
We met on the day that the world would end
and clasped fingers in the dark, unafraid.
As the steel sheets of Sheffield tumbled down,
fell beneath our feet, fell into pierced ground,
we stepped amidst the debris side by side.
As the red brick of Birmingham crumbled
we fumbled to find something lasting and new.
We remembered the cities that forged us,
now gone – and struggled to salvage the dust
unnoticed by the ruins around us.
And when then the rain came, we were ready.
The sun set, flame red, there was no delay.
We watched it sear through the thunder-clap clouds,
no longer humbled, no longer content
to allow our origin to be lost,
to admit our time together was spent.
Sheffield Steel marks Elanor Rose’s first poem published in Inkblots. Her inspiration was based on a challenge she set herself: to write romantic poetry without referring to the traditional romance tropes found in poems, such as flowers, forever afters and fairy tales.
Inkblots and Typing Spots 
This is beautiful- I was wondering, Is this just about two lovers walking into a new world after destruction of their identity( origins) or is it lovers breaking away from each other and finding a new life for themselves? The rain feels metaphoric to tears of farewell!
Thanks for your comment! 🙂 I passed your message onto the author, Elanor, and here’s what she said in response:
Thank you for your lovely comment! I’m glad you liked it. In response to your questions, I didn’t want to place too specific a narrative onto the poem – I used the end of the world as framing device to attempt to reflect feelings of romantic love (sometimes good, sometimes bad) and because of this, I think both your readings could be correct. Both readings also touch on an idea I wanted to include in the poem – that an ending can always create something new.
[…] service. Elanor Parker has been writing while she is looking for theatre work and recently had a poem published online. What a talented […]
[…] Elanor’s wonderful poem, Video, was written as a reflection on our society’s relationship with technology, with an intense obsession of the future and what we will find, develop and create. Oddly, her inspiration for this particular piece was sitting down to trace the lines of her hand – this was such a simple pleasure, we couldn’t help but choose it in our selection for this month. If you liked Elanor’s writing, make sure you check out her lovely poem, Sheffield Steel. […]
[…] we love it. If you liked Elanor’s poetry, check out some of her others too, such as ‘Sheffield Steel‘ and ‘Video‘. Also, Happy Birthday, Elanor! Have a great […]