FIONA PITT-KETHLEY
Mina San José
A quiet wood of pines behind the town
Leads upwards to a hill of mining spoils.
A rambling stream-bed winds beside the wood
With man-made caves within its rocky walls.
We look within and think we see some roots.
Close up it is a tarantula creche,
A horror story for arachnophobes.
Iron and salt – life's basics – lie inside,
Dark grey and white, no colours in this mine.
We know a man who uses blacksmith's skills
To forge small models of the mining wheels.
He fills the carts with pyrites from this place
And sells them in the local mineral fairs.
Fiona Pitt-Kethley has written 21 books (including her infamous debut poetry collection Sky Ray Lolly) and is currently writing poetry and prose books on the Sierra Minera and Cartagena. She lives in Cartagena in south-east Spain with her family and 8 ex-feral cats.
