Ola

Like a wreath of flowers, disguises a family ruin, lace covers your arms, you glide past me, do rocks and palomas, dance to your beat, treat you like a dower, swung you by your hubris, other animals cower, do you shout and heave, brighten with alarm, at the presence of defeat, a lover here and now, make you feel cooler, dance light or never, rage about your feet, an absence of charm, the sky full of showers, a rain washed calm.

Octavia

Will she drop me now, make me drink more drink, sit and wonder how, if i should wait near, glean what she's thinking, if her intentions are bare, her eyes a vibrant brown, they dance at my blink, this Summer long, the heat off her appears, to drain the sun’s sinking, what she demands disappear, like an artic ship's bow, that groans like a clinker, to the frozen horizon, don't need eyes of a deer, nor even a shrink, to tell me what’s clear, love is an ice rink.

Ophelia

She says a dawn novena, and worries about her feet, dancing who will see her, love is a trapeze door, unknowing what secrets to keep, it glides the floor, every tune floats bigger, the dust shuffles her conceit, wood yards and blonde singers, rise along the shore, but when dawn turns green she prays alone, wondering if heaven’s trigger, will replace a depth of need, no bet is ever even, perhaps with a communion order, even a retreat, she’ll know the score, stuff to make her dream.

Oona

Living here's no paradise, it’s always in the news, people aren’t very nice, might as well be jail, pavement’s are like glue, love’s a broken grate, all I want's a better life, show what I can do, need a little respite, my songs are well regaled, the arias too, pity I don’t escape, this cesspit full of lies, little pieces made of you, don't ask me why, what has been created, boils away like stew, know 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 hue.

Noelle

A painter of religious scenes, she dabs around a glaze, a thirty-year-old dream, regards the work she’s honed, abandoned to this game, it’s never set in stone, yellow days of sunbeams, she always feels the same, images not what they mean, the canvas lets her roam, a stretch on wooden nails, in many ways she's gone, a matchstick in the sea, bobbing without a flame, floating for eternity, work is hard to own, drinks come day by day, in this ocean town, her head cries for relief, sunken eyes flay, a mind that’s never easy, she wants another name.

Nika

Give me demon jewels, and let me laugh through tears, I will dance with fools, under cold white stars, golden gowns stroke my fears, I can't believe this farce, his lover turns a churlish hue, a citizen comrade brought near, I'll give mercy its due, smile and depart, to those ached for years, where there are no charts, turn my head, shrug so cool, don't want anyone to hear, or provide more fuel, love is a poisoned dart, her perfume costs me dear, my life a punctured heart, now it's perfectly clear.

Madeleine

When did I start crying, was it going back to Ireland, or when my son asked why, Nana loved the horses, you who poured sand, on that first course, like the ferry, kids playing, in how my life was crammed, anchored by your chains, you say Ma is forlorn, a martyr to her chip pan, did it ever dawn, you are the one who lies, somehow run aground, you ask me to try, through these hissing storms, masking the wounds, in troubled dust forcing, all that can’t be found..