I drive. You count the miles and navigate.
Choosing a crooked route, we alternate
Between the mountain passes and the plains,
Between the motorway and country lanes,
Discussing death. For every road we take –
Polluted highway, dirt track round the lake –
Is marked according to its category
And has its very own variety
Of deaths to offer. The pile-up, head-on crash
Is indicated by a jagged gash
Of colour on the map. Your choice this time:
You choose the red. The next choice will be mine.
And all the while, the hope that when it comes
We’ll die together in an instant: one.
Time for a driving-change. It’s getting late.
You drive. I count the miles and navigate.
by Jonathan Steffen
Photograph by Johan Wilbrink
This poem and photograph pairing is part of the Exposure collection
and was reviewed on Dr Fulminare by Harry Giles:
“The book is strongest with pairings like ‘I Drive, You Count the Miles and Navigate’. The photograph here (by Johan Walbrink), takes the journey central to the poem and relocates it to a single track road through Nordic rock and ice. The quotidian travelling of the poem is set against the epic, stark-toned landscape of the photograph – an image quite distinct from the images of the poetry, instead offering a different and enlivening perspective on what a road journey can be.”
Visit the Tuesday Poem blog for more – www.tuesdaypoem.blogspot.co.uk
