James Coghill

Car Crash Geography

 
 
At the end of last year
The statistician took,
A map of Britain,
A ruler, a pen -
Then put a dot
Where each fatal accident
Had occurred
In the last year.
 
Afterwards, they joined the dots,
In a veering path -
From east to west them moving up -
Until the Line slunk to the Shetlands
And disappeared.
 
They turned the map on its side
Saw -
A thousand butterfly hearts
Roar -
stabs of breaks -
The up-soar panic takes -
In glass air -
The silence when
The Line in the hospital
Stops.

 

 

James was a commended Foyle Young Poet in 2006 and 2007. This poem previously appeared in Acumen 60.

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