Ghost estate

women inherit

the ghost estate

their unborn children

play invisible games

of hide & seek

in the scaffold frames

if you lived here

you’d be home by now

they fear winter

the missing lights

on the unmade road

who they will get

for neighbours

if anyone comes anymore

if you lived here

you’d be home by now

the saurian cranes

concrete mixers

the rain greying into

the hard-core

the wind

in the empty windows

if you lived here

you’d be home by now

the heart is open plan

wired for alarm

but we never thought

we’d end like this

the whole country

a builder’s tip

if you lived here

you’d be home by now

it’s all over now

but to fill in the holes

nowhere to go

out on the edge

where the boys drive

too fast for the road

that old sign says

first phase sold out

William Wall