' This Is How You Find Me ' by Ella Allen is a collection of poetry that acts as a timestamp of the author's life, detailing the everyday struggles and joyous times within their life. Whilst reading this we discovered a poem title ' The Midlands, My 'ome ' that resonated with us so much so, that we launched our clothing brand and produced our first product based on the poem itself. Ella Allen is a midlands based poet and screenwriter. After publishing her debut anthology 'This is How You Find Me' in mid 2022 she studied at the London Film School to complete an MA in Screenwriting. Below is the following inspiration that drove the creativity behind our first T-Shirt launch ' I'll Forgive You For Ignorin Us'.
The Midlands, My 'ome
I'll forgive ya for ignorin' us,
for lumpin' us in with the North
or the South dependin' on which
argument ya want to win, 'cus I know
the truth of what it's like to be stuck
in the smack bang middle of this country
and the ever disputed North/South divide.
I guess it's easy to forget what we 'ave to
offer as a region when, accordin' to a lot
of people, we dunt exist anyway, but what
makes this place ent the historical merits
or some of the genuine beauty that can be
found 'ere, it's the people.
With sing-song voices and our elongated
vowels, forget the 'I' if you're in my neck
of the woods, it's useless - it takes us long
enough to speak anyway, and Lord knows
there are only so many hours in the God
given day.
Bab,
Babby,
Duck,
and Mucka
we're comprised of individuals that no
other place has to offer, unique in our
spirit and our actions, too, like when a pub
down south refused to serve my best friend
more than three drinks, so she left them this
review:
'I'm from the midlands so we do things different to ya'
and I'm tellin' ya it could not be more true.
We keep ourselves to ourselves
and life just flows, things are quiet
and easy goin' and we work for our wealth
and I promise there ent anvthin' better
than confusin' the rest of the country
as they ask themselves:
'what on God's green Earth is a gambol?'
I'm not sayin' we're perfect, that, of course,
TIl concede, I know so many people who love to
use the five-finger discount whenever they can,
Get your coin purses ready 'cus there's a
crackhead who stands outside of the garage
that'll do a dance if ya give 'im 20p,
But ya 'ave to understand,
and I know it's not just me.
that when I come back after
a long time away it's like re-enterin'
my body, like there's somethin' in the
air that, as I breathe in, it tells me to be proud that I'm from here.
B79
01827
0121 the rest of the country can
fuckin' do one, take the exit at the
island that gets me back there.
I take back what I said about bein' forgiven
for forgettin' about us 'cus you're ignorin'
the wonderful stomach of this country, the place that I was grown,
the God's honest land we know as The Midlands, the salt of the Earth
that I call 'ome.