arcs of spray and
constellations of red stars
strewn across the inside of
a contorted windscreen

by the flick of a wrist
…or neck

brown vinyl
sputtered with gobs and spurts

the battered steel glistening wetly
behind cloyingly sweet metallic smell

drip

drip

drip

gore-clotted clothing
stuck fast across
torn young bodies

air asphyxiated
strangling bubbling frothing
on that dirty grubby retching smell
of hot oil all gritty

the tock tock tock
of engine heat dying
beneath the uprooted bonnet

incongruous radio
still blithely proclaiming

from amidst the crumpled wreckage
jagged with sharp metal stakes
strewn with shattered glass

from amidst the crushed hopes
and in the emptiness
clear as a bell
tolling