If you are a poetry lover or a student of the English Language, this may not be for you. The poems aren't particularly 'poetic' and some of the words share only a passing resemblance to English. Instead it's a collection of dialect poems intended to celebrate the uniqueness of the people of The Black Country, the way we speak and our sheer saftness. Hopefully some of them will give you a loff! And what is the Black Country? In general terms it is the part of the West Midlands of England containing the boroughs of Dudley , Sandwell, Wolverhampton and Walsall which has been for centuries at the heart of the country's manufacturing industries - steelworks and iron foundries (one in Netherton made the anchor for Titanic), chain making for the world, glass blowing and leather working. Our dialect is believed to be the closest to the Middle English spoken back in the time of Chaucer. In particular the sound of vowels were quite different and changed to the way they are pronounced today during a shift in standard English between the time of Chaucer and Shakespeare and this collection is based upon how many people here still speak. And it's not Brummie!