If - Anne Clark

Imagine

Imagine if

What would happen

What would happen if running on empty

Seemingly forever

The car crawls to the umpteenth fuel station

Still out of sight, joining the motionless caterpillar of cars

Traffic snaking, tailing back for miles

Imagine

Imagine if the afternoon turned to evening

And as you approach the entrance

Fists fly as the green plastic can is wrestled over

And subsequently spilled across the great tarmac

Mixing blood and petrol

Imagine

What if the price became so high

It was only available to those who could afford it

Those who the governments decide take priority

Imagine it is rationed by the litre

Security guards, then eventually soldiers patrolling the pumps

Imagine

Then it all stops

… then it all stops

Imagine

Imagine all the silence

Imagine all the silence

After the rioting, the killing, the madness

Silence

… silence

What would happen next

Traffic snaking

Tailing back for miles

Imagine if

What would happen (what would happen…)

Mixing blood and petrol

Then it all stops (then it all stops…)

What would happen next

Imagine all the silence

Imagine all the silence

Imagine all the silence