Barbara

Bad news is never shared easy, especially with your ways, you never did gild the lily, an ice cold fish knife, is no child's game, held towards my eyes, slash of steel cuts disease, chasing good times these days, the woman you wish to be, no siren of strife, who cannot be tamed, but to find your own life, saw what you needed to see, called each night a name, a silk and golden odyssey, said what you needed to me, things are never the same, salt tongue on the breeze, bomb shells in your gaze.

Barra

We dream of kisses, blown or tossed away, from those in the mist, we think of home, that brought us pain, and bled our bones, rage makes us lift, our trouble as gain, or slaves to the shift, we don;t need to know, there's only one page, to allow we're alone, like uncertain drifts, of snow on the plain, we pass as ghost ships, sometimes on our trip, we diminish the flame, somewhere in what we miss, we say what we say.

Benice

Pines flick a yellow beach, you think you can choose, a thin breeze says gently, a banshee wail of pain, what you have to lose, when things go sour again, your face retains its dignity, you can beat this mood, use all your furious energy, a sudden fall of rain, makes unshaven workers drool, at what they can't attain, it's hard to be discreet, what you've been through, coming back you laugh easy, the hotel brims with ease, Carp swim around in pools, search what you can redeem, from all that hurts you.

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.