Poetry is proving it has the power to comfort and to console in these times. The nation is turning to it as never before – on TV and radio, and in newspapers, too. Countless poems have been posted by our poets on Write Out Loud – and sometimes they really strike a chord. Poetry also has the power to show warmth and support, to give thanks from the community to those on the front line – to show them that we care about them, and feel for the danger they put themselves in, on our behalf, for the greater good.  

The Wolverhampton poetry collective Poets, Prattlers and Pandemonialists – Steve Pottinger, Dave Pitt and Emma Purshouse - have produced a poem giving thanks to all transport workers in the crisis. They were commissioned by Transport Focus, who added the images. The poem includes these lines: “Here’s to you women and men, the crucial cogs in a network getting people and goods to their goal, individual heroes and heroines.”

Fourteen transport workers have died in London after catching Covid-19, the mayor Sadiq Khan said two days ago. The death toll included nine bus workers, three Transport for London (TfL) employees, a Tube worker and an employee for one of TfL’s suppliers. More have died in other areas.

In an article in the Guardian, a bus driver in south-east England said: "I’ve lost a lot of hours because of the reduction to the service, so my income has dropped significantly. Despite this, I’m still expected to go out and drive buses with people coughing and sneezing. When I pick up my bus, I do all our usual checks, and then I sit in the driver’s seat and go over every single part that I might touch with my antiviral wipes, then gel by hands, and then I can set off."

The three Midlands poets said on Thursday: “At the end of last week, the good folk at Transport Focus contacted Wolverhampton collective Poets, Prattlers, and Pandemonialists and asked if we could write a poem honouring the work being done by staff across the transport network – road, rail, bus, and tram – during the coronavirus lockdown. Oh, and they wanted it as soon as possible.

“On Monday morning, we submitted a poem to them, expressing our thanks for the invaluable (and often unrecognised) work these men and women are doing in such difficult times. Transport Focus have now added images, and today it’s gone out on social media.”

You can listen to Wolverhampton’s poet laureate Emma Purshouse reading a section of the poem here