Returning
Published on 02 - 09 - 2020
Returning was first published in Green Ink Poetry's wonderful Crossroads Collection
I have had this poem sitting on my computer for years, and decided to revisit it when the crossroads collection was announced!
Sun has fallen
Lonely road
In the distance
Tyres groan
Sunset tarmac
Hot plastic loam
Molten, scattered
Coats the road
Scoop the liquid
Bring it home
Crossing over
Look both ways
Bloody hands
That lift away
Blackened fragments
Soaked in rain
Close your eyes
And breathe again
Scattered pieces
Scan the road
Cross and collect
Dead plastic shards
Brittle broken
Ballooning open
Piece together
Not that hard
Whiplash memory
Familiar tones
Rocking head split
On the stone
Rebounding thoughts
Never depart
Think you saw them
At the start
Last night returns
In cheerless tolls
Ringing bleakly
Grey overtones
Morning breaks
A pulsing phone
Brightest lights
But nothing shown
Streams of blue light
Draining rays
A searchlight pulses
Through the haze
Inviting you
To try again
With new direction
You stumble home
Understand this
Make it known
Torn up signposts
Smashed apart
All ignored by
Passing cars
Sheared from metal
Hills ahead
Slow it down, now
In your head
hundred senses beating heart tap your fingers senseless dread
scattered paper it’s an art think you’ve been here since the start
there is a way out don’t come apart just remember what she said
Losing track
You miss a beat
Broken nails
Blistered feet
Scream in silence
Sweet release
Furious scrawling
Hard to beat
Lonely winter
No reprise
Stood here watching
Cars go by
No one stops
To catch your eye
Can’t flag them down
Not that you tried
Pay attention
Ups and downs
Screaming rubber
Tears through town
Rushing buildings
Tumble down
Just in earshot
Piercing wail
Frantic blue lights
Leave a trail
You realise, now
That you have failed
pulling over to the side returning there you read the signs
twisting maps to guide you home understand it make it known
For tougher times
You must prepare
Waiting here
To be repaired
Stick a thumb out
Are you scared?
To go back to
Those comfy chairs
Plateau pictures
Swooping lines
Vibrant posters
In dismal times
Glued together
Map your mind
Within the ink
Some good to find
You admit
You lost your way
It must be hard
To come today
Cast it back
What did she say?
Reach out before
You suffocate
Growling engine
On the run
Grinding metal
Smash head on
By steel hands
To cold air flung
Icy water
Fills your lungs
Blue search party
Hope and pray
He deserved
Just one more day
Screeching sirens
Cars give way
Reflecting from
The gaping lake
Pull you out
Before you drown
Lift you up
And lay you down
Remember how far
You have come
Chest is tight
Your seatbelt on
You had it once
But now it’s gone
It’s just your headlights
Coming on
Returning now
We take it slow
Searchlights swooping
Down the road
You understood it
Made it known
Now you’re on
The long road home