Prose
Segora Vignette Competiion 2010 Winner - Adjudication - Bernard Lord
1st Prize: Grid Lock 3 by Peter Rolls
A metallic river curves into the distance, blister-hot and crazed by September sun. Log-jammed juggernauts, coaches, vans, cars, lorries, vans, cars, cars ... All with somewhere to go, something to do … All wanting to do it now! Too late … This is Gridlock 3. This is Friday. This is the future. How far to Utopia?
Commuters, truckers, white-van men: smart-shirts, T-shirts, no-shirts ... Don’t look, don’t catch their eye. Above all, don’t smile.
Radios serve pre-packed music and stale slabs of news. ‘It’s hot - 27 degrees … Gridlock on the M25 … More on the hour ....’ More is less; more is madness.
Beyond the pebbled ditch is a brimstone field of bronchial weed and embittered hypertensive flowers. High above, vapour tracks are cut in a sky of angel blue. No angels down here. The Devil’s Messenger sits on a stunted birch: a yellow-eyed crow, looking for souls to snatch.
This is the world’s biggest orbital - or the longest car park, depending on your point of view. A blessed relief for the city centre - or a metal-clad concrete snake, voracious mouth consuming its own unending, excremental tail.
Somewhere the cameras; somewhere the experts, figuring the average vehicular speed to several decimal places. Nought point nought nought. Recurring, recurring … ‘Must be a software glitch.’ Life is a glitch, glitch, glitch.
Finger-tap, cheek-puff, eye-roll - yawn … For the enlightened few, there is mantra-comfort Aum … aumm … aummm … Re-incarnation would be good. How far to Nirvana?
Relax. Think green ... Think grass … Peaceful stuff, grass - never in a hurry. But it’s quicker than most things round here. Maybe a millimetre's growth in a good 10-hour day. Say 0.1mm per hour. Definitely quicker.
This is Friday. This is Gridlock 3. How far to Gridlock 4? Don’t ask. More crows are waiting … Keep hold of your soul.
Car-belch - Brrm-brrm - aumm-aumm … Aarrgh!
How far to Catatonia
1st Prize: Grid Lock 3 by Peter Rolls
A metallic river curves into the distance, blister-hot and crazed by September sun. Log-jammed juggernauts, coaches, vans, cars, lorries, vans, cars, cars ... All with somewhere to go, something to do … All wanting to do it now! Too late … This is Gridlock 3. This is Friday. This is the future. How far to Utopia?
Commuters, truckers, white-van men: smart-shirts, T-shirts, no-shirts ... Don’t look, don’t catch their eye. Above all, don’t smile.
Radios serve pre-packed music and stale slabs of news. ‘It’s hot - 27 degrees … Gridlock on the M25 … More on the hour ....’ More is less; more is madness.
Beyond the pebbled ditch is a brimstone field of bronchial weed and embittered hypertensive flowers. High above, vapour tracks are cut in a sky of angel blue. No angels down here. The Devil’s Messenger sits on a stunted birch: a yellow-eyed crow, looking for souls to snatch.
This is the world’s biggest orbital - or the longest car park, depending on your point of view. A blessed relief for the city centre - or a metal-clad concrete snake, voracious mouth consuming its own unending, excremental tail.
Somewhere the cameras; somewhere the experts, figuring the average vehicular speed to several decimal places. Nought point nought nought. Recurring, recurring … ‘Must be a software glitch.’ Life is a glitch, glitch, glitch.
Finger-tap, cheek-puff, eye-roll - yawn … For the enlightened few, there is mantra-comfort Aum … aumm … aummm … Re-incarnation would be good. How far to Nirvana?
Relax. Think green ... Think grass … Peaceful stuff, grass - never in a hurry. But it’s quicker than most things round here. Maybe a millimetre's growth in a good 10-hour day. Say 0.1mm per hour. Definitely quicker.
This is Friday. This is Gridlock 3. How far to Gridlock 4? Don’t ask. More crows are waiting … Keep hold of your soul.
Car-belch - Brrm-brrm - aumm-aumm … Aarrgh!
How far to Catatonia
Peter Rolls
1930: born 7 May, thus briefly a contemporary of Arthur Conan Doyle who died on 17 July, although no meeting is recorded.
1942: Slough Grammar School. English report: ‘weak.’ Discouraged; spent time collecting train numbers.
1950-90: Civil Service photographer. Head of Printing, RAE Farnborough, contributor to textbooks and technical journals.
1990-2010: Creative Writing classes in Camberley, Cobham, Guildford. Now with West Street Writers, Farnham. Occasional success in festivals, competitions, magazines, anthologies, internet sites and now an e-book (via spikethecat.com). Monologues performed and ‘amdram’ plays produced, homework delivered.
1930: born 7 May, thus briefly a contemporary of Arthur Conan Doyle who died on 17 July, although no meeting is recorded.
1942: Slough Grammar School. English report: ‘weak.’ Discouraged; spent time collecting train numbers.
1950-90: Civil Service photographer. Head of Printing, RAE Farnborough, contributor to textbooks and technical journals.
1990-2010: Creative Writing classes in Camberley, Cobham, Guildford. Now with West Street Writers, Farnham. Occasional success in festivals, competitions, magazines, anthologies, internet sites and now an e-book (via spikethecat.com). Monologues performed and ‘amdram’ plays produced, homework delivered.
