Lemn Sissay

Lemn Sissay responded to his commission by producing 3 poems; Spark Catchers and 2 untitled pieces.

For Spark Catchers, Lemn was first inspired by the danger of death signs that are mandatory on the electricity transformer enclosures.  His research and thoughts led him to the Bryant and May Match factory, which sits at the bottom South West corner of the Olympic Park and is a major architectural landmark.  Lemn researched into the history of the factory and into the story of  Annie Besant (1847–1933), a feminist and a socialist, who when she heard about the high profits of the Bryant and May match factory, as opposed to the pittance paid to their labourers, she published a series of articles that led to a public boycott and a successful strike of the match workers.

Her article White Slavery in London, London, 1888 ended with the following line which was Lemn’s calling to write his poem:

Failing a poet to hold up their conduct to the
execration of posterity, enshrined in deathless
verse, let us strive to touch their consciences, i.e.
their pockets, and let us at least avoid being
“partakers of their sins,” by abstaining from using
their commodities.

The Spark Catchers
By Lemn Sissay

Tide twists on the Thames and lifts the Lea to the brim of Bow
Where shoals of sirens work by way of the waves.
At the fire factory the fortress of flames
In tidal shifts East London Lampades made

Millions of matches that lit candles for the well-to-do
And the ne’er-do-well to do alike. Strike.

The greatest threat to their lives was
The sulferuous spite filled spit of diablo
The molten madness of a spark

They became spark catchers and on the word “strike”
a parched arched woman would dive
With hand outstretched to catch the light. 

And land like a crouching tiger with fist high
Holding the malevolent flare tight
‘til it became an ash dot in the palm. Strike.

The women applauded the magnificent grace
The skill it took, the pirouette in mid air
The precision, perfection and the peace.

Beneath stars by the bending bridge of Bow
In the silver sheen of a phosphorous moon
They practised Spark Catching.

“The fist the earth the spark its   core
The fist the body the spark it’s   heart”
The Matchmakers march.  Strike.

Lampades  The Torch bearers
The  Catchers of light.
Sparks fly Matchmakers strike.

The Bryant and May Factory