Immobilising Movement
A Poem by Sophia Witcomb
Red lights no longer mean stop signs
and the inconsistent noise is between beeps
and pedestrians don’t wait to be told
they can cross because they’d rather be
halfway across the road to stop the car
than wait for the faded red to fail them again.
closed roads aren’t really closed and the desert
sand settles on ignored signs
and it’s dangerous but smiles flicker
across the faces of two tourists
whose drivers weave between each other
in an insane race of death and tips
at least there is no trust on these roads
half broken-down cars can’t be expected
to signal or stop or stay in their lane
but this is not true on the smoothly paved road
with the little green man and bright red glow
left light flashing yellow
step out, step into
what should be trust
but the rush to live
is overthrown
in a crash of glow
of a left light still
flashing left yellow
at least this is a freak incident
no intent for injury in this scene
of failed trust of calm chaos
not true on roads now used
not for driving cars but driving
war on roads to stop the war
on the drivers who fail to slow
for the unused lights as they know
their own system is in the works
and it has gone on for too long for
one policy change to change the
deep rooted systems people make
when governments look away
So they throw their petrol bombs
and wonder in the blaze of bus fires
at the number of victims who need
to be fired before the government
will turn roads back into paths
towards protection for their own
gain and perhaps will try again
in a more sensitive way and avoid
the green man
being shot
A Statement by Sophia Witcomb on her process
This poem is part of a collection I wrote exploring three different countries with their unique customs and cultures. On first entering a country, you must encounter their roads, and driving etiquette can sometimes be a shock to the system! Imagine being in standstill traffic and everyone blasting their car horns when no one can move, or edging on to a roundabout with everyone trying to squeeze in and circle around you – chaos! Yet a friend was hit by a car on a quiet road and simply because the driver had left his indicator on, the indicator which is part of what seems to make roads safe, calm, predictable. Then I was in a country where the roads were being used to fight back against a new government policy; buses were burnt, petrol bombs were thrown, many shots were fired. All of this, on the roads. So, of course, it made its way into this collection. It was important to me to end the poem on the image of the green crossing man, an image very familiar to us all, being shot as it expresses our own vulnerability, both as physical beings but also as cogs in the political system.
About Sophia
BoundBy Editor
I’m Sophia, an editor for BoundBy, and love being part of a team supporting unpublished poets! Being able to explore so much of the world is something I am incredibly grateful for, and it often makes its way into my writing. Having spent the last two summers in South Africa teaching in a township, and having had family living in Egypt, these rich experiences have influenced much of my work and my dream job would incorporate both travel and poetry! I graduated this summer along with the rest of this lovely team and I am currently pushing my way through applications in an attempt to enter the world of editing and publishing, whilst making time to write poetry and short stories on the side. Remembering the reasons why we write is crucial, in my opinion, for self-motivation, whether it is about understanding yourself or the world around you better, expressing unique ideas, or being a source of humour! There is a reason we turn to writing and I believe it is important we keep it in mind to support our writing processes. Throughout it all, BoundBy has been a great place to be inspired by the creativity and motivation of others, and, as a team, we have developed our editing practices and have come such a long way in the last eighteen months! Happy reading!