Maya

Absolved free of the scorn, I've wrapped her in, she passes from our home, uncertainty arrested, my letters binned, her tears trip uncontested, believe me a career is born, by making false decisions, wronging women my new crown, delivery, testimony manifest, between myself and her lips, whoever knows what’s best, they tell me nothing shorts, the rattle of wind on sill, that cannot beat bad thoughts, I pause, bitterly still, sunlight cracks the window,

Lena

You used to write then, of smoky laughter and winters, tales and all the rest, awful stories of the tenements, scrawled over by wet kisses, men who had lost everything, but made you their friend, do you want me in splinters, to read all that again, the little lines of credit, dollars dimes and dodgy business, houses lying within a sentence, nothing else but that wee pen, sunken sunlight by the river, for us far off kin, why only help to fashion, the dreams of lonely sisters, donning boots and leathers, your smudges like a siren ?

Katherine

Don't talk like that she hisses, you always make a fuss, love isn't mailed long distance, powdered lightly she groans, shadows of light catch dust, a fragrance of glacial cold, others seek convergence, she’ll do what she must, through days of pure insistence, she’s betrayed by everyone, doesn’t ask for much, her epiphany not yet done, my fair haired little sister, what have the years brought us, that it's come to this, a parent who fled the home, a pie without a crust, mandolins contain your song, but weeping she dismisses.

Janis

Do you ever spare a thought, about our separation , he interrogates me at the door, you think it’s easy for me, avoiding drink's temptation, his chin is cast to the lee, full of trouble and fraught, his protesting eyes dilate dance like he’s been caught, for my part he feels, I'm from some other place, my upper rooms blown easterly, his blessed mother’s thorn, she would say don’t hesitate, drag her through the Court, like a wind blows viciously, she spreads unleavened hate, her steady flow of history signals one word, escape.

Isla

As if to anticipate me, the wind soothes the Lime, and Cypress trees, on hills beyond the Cliffs, an ambient light, seeps, says forget his lips, I drink green tea, aroused in stumbled fright, by a foam washed sea, surprised in my shift, supposedly young and bright, I still hear music shiver, his song one long apology, really more of a whine, stunted by apostrophe’s, mandolin strings drift, on futures with the tide, remnants of cargo ships, sing of love and sigh.

Harriet

Was going to leave without you, idly breathing without a clue, a supposed departure from Taranto, I chew pasta and think about home, but really don’t know what to do, you are such a generous soul, this friend of yours Billy Hughes, my Italian friend brings news, says he really isn’t true, knows it’s not New York, but most place have the same avenues, that walk the unfaithful walk, since our time on Corfu we’ve had to face the truth only love makes you drool, men think they can beat our bones, fade away into the blue, but they bring nothing at all, least of all Billy Boo Boo.

Gerri

Your love of Horse, a needling wire, allows for no discourse, no rush to atone, for the offerings of desire, hands like ice cold stone, cut our morning recourse, fevered in dawn’s grey light, they run a river’s course, on burdens we own, through candlelit nights, our demons ride home, there is no concourse, for ourselves or the time, friends have all withdrawn, we sail all alone, like a tide breaks the line, circumnavigates the globe, laughing on fire.