Beulah

She notes the distance around, the hallway’s public telephone, a screed of wheat when found, she wouldn't dine or sing, luminous solitary but not alone, strapped to this old thing, an old granny a fleece of Down, like the book she holds, her feet on the ground, what better cure for everything, than an oat field blue smoked, around her a hundred kin, her drink is ginger ground, lemon linen and eau de cologne, she whispers out her love, her face is shining pink, she can see all her own, watch them rise and sink, across this sepia moment.

Ariana

Ride horses with leather leads, my lover asks, sway gently in the breeze, pray to an altar at noon, how can you live like that, my heart rises like a salmon, it feels the air I breathe, the kids are up and gone, is all loving done furtively, I want to tell her soon, get away from this prattle, break the ship of fools, raise my spirits to believe, gallop instead of trot, I’m not some innocent Eve, dancing in the perfect gloom, my eyes set on the past, the gentle sea's so smooth, raise me here at last.

Willow

You won’t get far, I still wonder if, you know who you are, where’s your watering hole, Aretha rolling off your lips, who’ve you’ve left and gone, wiser than your Da or Ma, flashing your fingertips, are you wearing a tiara, at Trapani in the foam, where you laugh and skip, are you there to gloat, your Ray Bans on the bar, watching the Ocean slip, sunlight on dock rail spars, still you talk of shadows, ask if they still grip, dance at mother’s window, make the sign of ships?

Vivienne

When you waved ta ra, kissed me here and there, I died in your arms, what you said still sticks, love of harbours and Fairs, beaches pebbles insects, this lonely dog gazes far, at your jumbled worlds, bottles, tidal wood, jam jars, you are a pin prick, squeezed red on my finger, seepage from an oil slick, forget your shiny cars, nothing but a thirst, besides the ocean’s roar, continue with your phoney tricks, say love will keep me here, you have had your kicks, don’t worry, I’ll repair.

Udella

Did you fake your everything, gamble on your cheek bones, just to make bells ring, your girl’s say, you could have had a throne, troubles all scattered away, was it different with underlings, dancing fools called to atone, you dismissed as has been, who call you out to play, sing songs drink full on, set images only you can take, the calendar sings, waves of arrangements and moans, smells of river and lost things, you know it’s been coming, blowing cigarettes like coals, sucking on tangerines, chasing angels down the road.

Tammy

When did I say you must, was it going back to sing, or the words of my son, who loved the house of soul, among other things, he never sang alone, in the city always first, clothes that needed ironing, anchored to his sins, but he never crawled, towards any living being, making songs was his goal, his Daddy blows a kiss, but he never did anything, a pie without the crust, says he knows the score, doesn’t even think, in a back alley scrawled, my boy is dying.

Star

Sometimes you can’t exclude, what cascades deep inside, then a face hove’s into view, laughter in her blue eyes, when she asks me why, moon’s rise on the tide, a lover, grounded and true, she holds out all the time, but draws a line at virtue, once she paced her pride, found places safe to cry, explored huge caves at night, a woman of rage and sinew, beats out sweet lullabies, it’s not an easy listen, here’s the stuff that chimes, like a bell on a kite, her face a sunlit paradigm, a glass in the sunshine