M62, J22

By Winston Plowes

Location: M62, J22 (Lancashire/Manchester border)

You could cut the air with a paper knife
And re-open the wounding word.
Restrained in a windowed envelope
still dying to be heard.

Deja vu on the M62,
as we passed we didn’t know.
That Britain’s highest motorway
could make us feel so low.

With only hard shoulders to cry on
in this day of contraflow tears.
As the two of us crossed over Yorkshire
both red and white roses appeared.

Fog lights reflected our faltering start
and the road noise was unrelenting.
Permanently more than two chevrons apart…
You were never the one for repenting.

Winston says: ‘After living for over 10 years in Manchester I am now a resident on the Rochdale Canal in Hebden Bridge. Among other things, my work is inspired by the Calder Valley, my interaction with the local landscape and by my 10-year-old daughter. I appear regularly as a compére and performer at open mic events in the North West and also work in cabaret and run workshops in schools.’