Soap Life

Someone will die of a heart attack or a car
crash soon. Please god, make it soon.
This waiting is dull. We count the sad
women on market stalls and not one

of them is secretly seeing him from the garage,
or the bent copper, or her own husband’s
younger brother. Each night I go to bed
praying for a letter from my mother’s

sick room, spelling out how I’m adopted.
A week later I’ll bump into the girl
of my dreams in the park. The usual start.
Drink, meal, roll in the dark in a damp flat.

We’ll name the day, book the catering,
then find out we’re brother and sister
just in the nick. Give me that much
if nothing else. Anything’s better than this.

Stephen Giles

If you have any comments on this poem, Stephen Giles would be pleased to hear from you.