༺ bucket ༻

whose name did I write?

now, I don’t think I looked
anything like him
Chris Evans that is
him who married Billie Piper
the singer from Swindon

back in the mid 90s
it seemed like you would see
his gingery hair
and thick-rimmed NHS glasses
every time you turned on a TV

this was back before the internet
imagine that!
back when if you wanted
to watch a film at home
you’d have to hire a VHS video

and so it was
that me and my then girlfriend
went to a Blockbusters
in Gorse Hill
to get a copy of True Lies
or was it Pulp Fiction?
anyway
that detail got drowned out
by what happened next

on our way in
some youths on a bench
noticed my characteristics
the gingery hair
the thick-rimmed NHS glasses
and called out ‘Chris Evans’
they all laughed
I rolled my eyes
and tutted

in the shop
while we were browsing
there was some banging
on the window
which I ignored
but by the time we came out
a reasonable sized crowd
had formed outside

a bunch of people rushed at us
multiple voices lifted
‘Chris Evans’
‘Chris Evans’

I couldn’t raise my eyebrows
any higher
when someone thrust out
a paper and pen
and asked for an autograph

nearly thirty years later
I honestly can’t remember
whose name
I wrote