Saturday 7 September 2024

Wyona

She prays a dawn novena, and worries about her feet, wondering who will see her, if love's a trick to hold, not knowing her own to keep, she's ready to go cold, every tune sounds sweeter, hazy bars fuel her conceit, a woodyards blonde singer, won't do what she's told, more than any feeling, dancing swells her toes, men rise up to greet her, when evening turns green, her only prayer is please, perhaps a communion bolt, mask s a careful retreat, she'll rescue any joke, that simulates her dream.

Friday 6 September 2024

Vicky

Before you called to me, carried me to the Bite, i knew how to be free, ships famed on their own, whispered sails at night, you were my living bones, who gave you that legacy, love you thought was right, fire you released, a sunlit beach at Thebes, a power beyond my sight, you left me solitary, three days i wept windblown, whole cities heard me cry, knowing my song unsown, nailed by your island creed, you don't spare delight, like a broken scream, fury is in my smile.

Thursday 5 September 2024

Ulla

Don't leave big schemes, with nursing assistants, regret for lost dreams, go beyond blond curls, travel past middle distance, you were never that girl, be a sailing boat wheeler, a golden age sister, laugh at what comes after, raise a canvas flap burl, spread your resistance, sing like Elma Turl, unlistened to screamers, won't hear of injustice, show them your feelings, how different a whirl, not reduced by the hospice, your love spreads the world, no one does it for us .

Wednesday 4 September 2024

Tammy

She's happy let her go, the woman used to love you, now she's on her own, you didn't treat her right, she sings of past humours, now she has another wife, has vacated this zone, how she blew the candles, what used to be home, do you understand why, she dances perfumed, a mirror to your lies, where lemons melt her bones, a sea of forgotten curlicues, burned her ribbons gone, forged by your rotten sighs, her lights all fused, the tail end rainbow high, will you make room ?

Tuesday 3 September 2024

Skylar

Her day is just beginning, she dances in the tide, freshly alive and spinning, she kills me with that twist, next to me like a bride, knows I'll always give in, around a constant trilling, tobacco blonde full of lies, her lips shine like shillings, just as the sea she risks, a smile to beam estuary wide, welcomes each day by ship, she blows a happy grin, has never left a family’s side, but needs to escape the din, here with me she kicks, sunlight,water,sky. a Medea used to thrilling, who knows the reason why ?

Monday 2 September 2024

Rosemary

More than any laughter, blood seeps around her knees. it's like broken water, but life isn't hell, its toll is at her feet, a used cartridge shell, elated or in despair, she can cry if she pleases, or wonder who cares, she stands by the river, swears she'll never release, names he called daughters', in matters of distance, knows what she's leaving, why beg forgiveness, a dank set of stairs, times that brought sympathy, a rope just for her, yellow nights of weeping.

Sunday 1 September 2024

Quiana

Brother what was that time, when I prayed on trains. sweated for your child, did you watch me plumb, a drain pipe in the rain, to fashion us a home, poets from another clime, say God is not to blame, for these tears and brine, who says find the zone where life remains the same, why need to use your 'fone, anchors bind my hands, ships ply ancient lanes, nothing seems to rhyme, you laugh in dogged tones, cannot bear to chase, a love that'doesn't chime, I am not your slave.