RED LIGHT BLUE LIGHT

RED LIGHT BLUE LIGHT

The number of people
I see behind the wheel
At traffic lights
Looking down
Towards the soft blue glow
Texting furiously

Is it so very urgent
Are you so very important
That your message can't wait
When the graveyards are full
Of indispensible
People just like you

MAWH, Oct 2018

STREET LIGHTING

STREET LIGHTING

Dear Borough Council ‬
Please may we have our orange

Street lighting back‬

I used to sleep‬
So much more soundly‬
When it didn't feel as if‬

The world outside‬
Was scanning the night skies‬
For Zeppelins

When there is no moon

These lights seem twice as bright
Against the darkest night

Soft warm cosy glows‬
Shaping the nighttime landscape‬
‪Replaced by searchlights‬

Bright beams of midnight‬
A sinister parked car lurking‬
Disconcertingly

Cold night lights burning
Dancing on the retinas
Of passing motorists

When there is no moon
Such lights seem twice as bright
Against the deepest night

Day shift to night shift
Contrasting with the hues
Of yellow shifting to blue

Did generations before
Indulge in extensive research
To find most suitable colours

All forgotten now
As penny-pinching politics
Sacrifices safety

When there is no moon
These lights seem twice as bright
Against the cruellest night

Dark shadows
Concealing darker thoughts
Around frightening corners

Lonely and frightened
Wanting only to be home
Jumps at every hidden sound

Blinded by pinpoints
Running into deeper darkness
As the lights go out

When there is no moon
Light seems too far to fight
Falling into darkest night

MAWH, October 2018

COMMUTING

COMMUTING

Huge buses on tiny country lanes

Roadworks popping up overnight

Are cautiously driven as it rains

Blocking ill-timed glaring lights

Capillaries of the city clogged

With traffic moving so slow

Circulation’s faltering

How could such traffic flow

Huge trucks following sat-navs

Up tracks too small to cope

Vast queues forming right behind

It’s all grinding to a halt

Throbbing veins of the city clogged

Embolising movement

The city’s still beating heart

Stifled with discontent

The selfish cut the others up

Thoughtlessly lane-changing

Their indication’s vague at best

Fatefully rearranging

Arteries of the city clogged

With far more stop than go

Cars cardiac arresting

Striking one last fatal blow

MAWH, May 2018

LEAVING THE STATION

LEAVING THE STATION

You wait thirty seconds

For a gap in the traffic

Then something comes along

From the other

Direction

A-a-a-and…

You wait another minute

For a gap in the traffic

Something else comes along

From the other

Direction

A-a-a-and…

You wait two minutes

For a gap in the traffic

Another thing comes along

From the other

Direction

A-a-a-and…

Behind other drivers

Hoot and honk and holler

Impatiently

They cannot see

The road’s not free

A-a-a-and…

Then…

You…

GO!!!!!

MAWH, May 2018

A CONFRONTATION

A CONFRONTATION A confrontation The big car The big bus At the tiny bridge A lot of shouting Arms waving Arms folded And nothing moving A confrontation The big car The big bus At the tiny bridge

MAWH, April 23 2018

NOT QUITE AN INCIDENT AT THE MINI-ROUNDABOUT

NOT QUITE AN INCIDENT AT THE MINI-ROUNDABOUT

At the mini-roundabout

After a weary day’s work

A small white van opposite

Indicating left

Indicating left

Indicating left

Indicating left

Suddenly turns right

After I’ve made my move

As I slam my brakes

The face of an angry driver

Mouthing obscenities revealed

From the passing

Passenger seat

A blue bobble hat

Flipping me the bird

At the mini-roundabout

If our lives had collided

I’d said that they’d been

Indicating left

Indicating left

Indicating left

Indicating left

Suddenly turning right

After I'd made my move

Making me slam my brakes

He seemed such an angry driver

One I wouldn’t like to cross

If I had said this

If I’d told the truth

I wonder if they’d have

Taken me at my word

MAWH, April 2018

BMW

BMW

There comes a moment

When you’re sitting in

Your fourth traffic jam

Of the evening

Just five minutes walk

From the place you left

Forty minutes earlier

And a BMW

Burns casually along

The Right Turn Only Lane

Overtaking your queue

Only to barge straight on

Right across the lights

Seeming oh-so terribly

Pleased with itself for

Displaying such cleverness

That you sit in your car

Wishing really hard

With all your heart that

Everyone in the world

Would just go away

Get out of your way

So you can simply

Get home

MAWH, Feb 2018