ciaran

You like strong tea, tears lachrymose, fill up the breach, never one to blow cold, you won’t let it go, face crowned with thorns, jokes your repartee, might have once been so, your thoughts start to weave, littered with scorn, why beat that drum, this café’s your home, it replaces uncertainty, the moon in your dome, wants to believe, now the kids have gone, you and her alone, whisky the scouring stone, when they leave, do you try to atone, walk back to your seat, admit that you're wrong?

Tony

I'm forever beat, even with a common air, but hope rescues everything, I need to buck up, heaven is a place to share, sometimes needs a little shove, when I’ve gone to seed, have a go at taking care, it's not easy being free, get dressed feel the bug, never short of prayer, a signal to those above, I know how to keep, a house and wooden chair, drink is my sole conceit, fire brings on the tug, lovely faces dance on stairs, lamp lights shine with love, can everybody see, the gaps between my hair, do I need new teeth, will my smile fit anywhere?

laura

Working here's no paradise, it’s always in the news, people aren’t very nice, could as well be jail, coffee and cake like glue, love’s a broken gate, all I want's a better life, show what I can do, need a little respite, my songs are well regaled, the arias too, a pity I don’t flay, this cesspit full of lies, little pieces made of you, don't ask me why, what has been created, boils away like stew, I’m not an easy play, home’s for me no searchlight, when it beams on truth, this time of early night, sheds no pretty hues.

Lauren

I live in a haze, sheltered from the wind, pinned here like cellophane, best not to moan, or set a new trend, please give me a loan, I won’t jump the train, disappear from the land, find a wicked way, in my best clothes, but enjoy being kind, even on my bones, make a whole life change, show how it could be, In love more than trade, when someone groans, I’ll shoot them a grin, move out of that zone, stoke up a blaze, break free of Gin, call out your name, you’ll understand.

Writers

We can sometimes squeeze, from each breath taken, a moment that's easy, that makes me swoon, face washed happy, in this bohemian room, outside is a sycamore tree, cars mark the way, sunlight parts the breeze, they’re playing our tune, forget lovely holidays, a lorry goes vroom, writing feeds our frenzy, the bed is a cradle, above is eternity, we’ll dance on this avenue, each thought castaway, tell our good news, till the house timbers creak, we’ll try and create, some lovely speak, say love is what stays.

Maria

In a café’ that’s dark, her lovely face shadows, she thinks of supermarket yards, dressed for night’s presence, across trolley she’s heard, they’ll take any bet, spirits with some spark, she comes here to allow, herself to carry on, it’s a rare clerk not cut to the marrow, when clearing her park, she can’t forget that lot, they don’t soar like arrows, precise in their movement, but feels their dreams makes lists when off clock, poetry’s her scene, if there’s ever a chart, to enumerate forebearance, then think of no-marks all of us vagrants.

Sasha

Here in an empty Saloon, I play this sad game, It does me no good, shadows make strokes, across the dirty bus lanes, shocked again I'm broke, songs of melancholy hue, drift from a guitar playing, they hang in the blue, down this long road, they say loss’s net gain, but when you need loans, who calls the tune, above wooden tables, it seeps into my perfume, better exist alone, with him off the rails, I’ll carry the load, due north are the Dunes, lying over the lake, what happens to truth, does it make waves?