from United We stand
The Commute
6 o’clock. I would, usually,
run home from work at WaterLinks.
Mum said, ‘Don’t’.
‘Don’t run home from work today’, but
I still didn’t feel unsafe.
‘In a record breaking 18 hours, Birmingham saw widespread violence and looting across the city.’
That day,
it kicked off. And,
I ran pretty fast that day.
It was strange.
‘Nick Robinson, 22, who works at Yenton pub in Erdington, told Redbrick how the police had shut down the pub early due to fears the violence would spread.’
6.30pm, and I took the
bus home, instead.
Sat on public transport, bus route 50 to Kings’ Heath, but
nothing was really happening. Except
nameless hoods were holding up the buses.
‘The rioters have systematically, with the help of instant messaging, targeted businesses in Birmingham, including Adidas, JD Sports and Maplin Electronics.’
By 7 o’clock, I would see
gangs, forming on Colmore Row.
The effects of Michael Brown in Ferguson directly,
As you walk down the street and it’s been torn
apart by tensions in the community.
“Nicking stuff out of Jessops or Tesco, and
smashing stuff willy-nilly.”
‘After another night of rioting in the city, the violence has spread into more districts of Birmingham: King’s Heath, Selly Oak, Harborne, Winson Green.’
Sophie-Louise Hyde is an emerging poet and postgraduate researcher at Loughborough University. Her part-creative Ph.D. study explores the techniques of verbatim in poetry. She is also the founder of online creative writing and publishing platform, The Student Wordsmith.
Note: United We Stand is a series is based on the real-life interview testimonies of individuals involved in or affected by the 2011 riots in Birmingham, England. It is important to note, at this stage, that all participants who took part in these interviews have given me full consent to use their testimonies, anonymously, in the creation of these poems.