Rowan Lyster

The barrier is there to keep you safe

certain things are within your control,
for instance, your own level of tiredness
and your adherence to the speed limit.
you can focus very hard on the white lines
instead of your hands-free or the dials
at 75 miles per hour, if someone were to,
say, emerge without warning before
you can stop if you leave enough space.
other road users are often careful,
signs are clear and simple to avoid distractions
such as the repeated mental image of
a body in flight a pair of hands
moving at great speed, metal posts
flashes of scrub where pedestrians are
unthinkable, a body in flight
that a few hours earlier
was brushing its teeth, planning
what to wear

Rowan Lyster is a poet and arts administrator from Herefordshire, based in Bristol. Her poems have recently appeared or are forthcoming in publications including Anthropocene, Bath Magg, Magma, PERVERSE, Poetry Wales, Tentacular, The London Magazine, The Rialto, Under the Radar and Poetry Wales. She is a member of the Southbank Centre New Poets' Collective 2022-23.