Brooklyn

You were an ungrateful little shite, who missed family holidays, when you asked for paradise, not only a wish to share, that love but could not name, smiles for worried parents, are those lines too striped, in the wine you gave away, all that sleeping out at night, beyond windows frosted glare, your bloodless eyes astray, snow falling off your hair, clothes wrapped like a drainpipe, you’ll never change, Ma and Da asked why, a bed at hospital's side, orderlies rush around with trays, no more howls of childhood dislikes, you howl just the same.

Ava

We wake near a lemon train, my lover lies supine, everything now beyond pain, sunrise on the Levantine, where Cavafy lived and died, making verses to a life, Thessinger loved this terrain, an iron kettle on the fire, lone figures on an empty plain, salt whorls a global fight, swallow thrum yellow skies, she dreams of desert nights, and exhausts the drain, of last night’s wine, the passages she irrigates, but never obtains, an air of early disguise, we move towards our Chicane, we know about this light.

Abira

Can I still call you Mum, do only children dance, in the years long gone, Sunlight warms the terrace bar, Cocktails, sunglasses, chance, you'd adore our shining car, a hut outside sells rum, i pray any wound you'd lance, regret you couldn't come, look at you as the one, a glimmer in far distance, ask why you had to run, dusk arrives on my phone, starlings wing an electric prance, the bay echoes perfect tones, will i ever feel your love, seem awkward at your glance, night is fired by drums, my uneven balance.

Aileen

How can i contemplate gain, acting like some forgotten seer, as if that hurricane, will protect my bones, make a river draw them near, a time to be sought alone, like animals of the plain, howl weeping towards their fear, can we ever love again, last winter by tidal stones, when we sat close to tears, was it like coming home, does our soul work that way, a trapeze of childless years, eyes trying to fix a place, where we don't hesitate, when she draws me near, the absence of any pain, suddenly becomes clear.

Abiyar first order poems from here up to Tracy

We stand by her ashes, she made us swear at the ferry, laid down with her Sash, she cut a fine dash, dismissed worries said be merry, life is only a flash, thank God for her tirades, what it is not to worry, as she comes close to the grave, whirr of the morphine backlash, moans from a yellow reverie, softer than any drum crash, we're all bound to rave, who refuses tributaries, when we're on parade, once as fired as Potash, Orange kids without a penny, cheeks pale as potato mash, we wave her off the jetty.

Zena = second order poems from here down to A

I want to be free, says my lover from on high, no fire or blue sea, between her and the coast. she looks at the sky, coughs her cigarette throat, an island catching lee, searching horizons that're bright, she knows what it means, wind threads over the boat, unkind and sheds no light, if they'll find us afloat, she stands no scrutiny, God knows if she's right, a short step to certainty, but can't you please see, in the strange lantern light, ballast carried for sympathy, gets lost at night. do they wish upon us death, recognize what's above ? like a match stick on a sofa their faces to the wind in this space a firefly, a dingy bell drop cellar what messes with your head, they laugh, the dopes, do they think of us as hurt, do they wish upon us death, recognize what's above ? with the herring gulls alone, their faces to the wind give me just one more time. it reaches inside you again worms of the cemetery quarantine, they party every night, scenes down every lane, skim the lake with stones, each Sunday we know, when sunlight lifts the Poppies, we don't check the Escrow, or make promissory notes, far more than any keep, birds thrum their tune, she pulls at my traces, the moon is her nosegay it haunts her face, other shipwreck look for signs

Zanzibar

A tune as sweet as day, to settle in our bones, help us find a way , we sit side by side insane, leave us all alone, all my friends the same, before they make us face, bitter seeds they've sown, dangerous moments in any game, my eyes fill with shame, all the love we've known, the only song is blame, what does it take to praise, when you deal with stones, that bloody you and break, don't make haunted faces, at promissory notes, the moon will let you slay, their callow jokes.