On the train I met a blond
she had a heart shaped face
reading a glossy magazine about famous stars.
It had on its cover
a picture of an actor sitting on his horse
looking splendidly masculine,
his eyes deep blue.
’You know this actor?’ she asked,
‘Yes I’ve seen him on TV.’

‘Did you know that he’s gay?’
She told me about stars and other celebrities
like she knew them personally,
where they lived and how,
her knowledge of the world
gleaned from glossy magazines.

I was charmed so much useless facts about insignificant people
when the train stopped at my station
an hour had gone
and I knew more about the glamorous life
than I ever wanted to and didn’t believe a word of it,
but she was sweetly naive
dreaming of living like she thought celebrities did.