Rita

Can anyone seriously, believe this creature in a jar, rescued from the sea, like something in a frame, has a different mark, something you can't name, one that looks and seems, when distant bells afar, call up childhood dreams, maybe a different age, keeps you like a postcard makes it all feel strange, nothing fills your need, within this milky fog, even when you kick, dancing in the waves, unhearing crass remarks, stuff that's almost wreckage, all the stuff you’re not.

Queen

A cross for a sign, to where we sing songs, she gives out a sigh, there’s a deal at Primark, she pulls me along, takes hold of my arm, talks about why, when hurrying along, she turns to crime, hair like a jump start, she needs to stay strong, no one takes her part, we head up the front aisle, take what we can, make dust in plain sight, never easy alarmed, her life is a clock, tied to wandering stars, says that she’s wise, but feels wrong, the stitch in her side, asks me to calm.

Pilar

You have the spark, her lovely face tight, just need to stay strong, no more chasing the mud, most of your nights, focus on what's aboce, in a supermarket car park, they ask you why, you hang around bars, says we all need a crust, this trolley suits her fine, no place for doubles, she never walks far, to gossip is a crime, each step’s another mark, you can work without gloves, unlike other times, when hard being good, there's never a chart, to show us what's right, she’ll bask like a shark, wait for the light.

Othello

On the Autumn tide, I see the poor, huddled in line, it's cold for the season, sons and daughters, share one pitiful reason, on the starboard side, the missing are nought, don't need an inquiry, they shiver in the lee, the ship has left port, they’re sick of being, worry about time, being caught, in some populist drive, what it teaches, is to buttress the law, accept no guilty plea, weather the storm.

Larry

I stand by what I said, where praise be, words are better off dead, my eyes roll like thunder, wine dark like the sea, it makes me shudder, from a blue dread, stripped down like a tree, I’ve nothing more to give, here and there a cluster, poplars blow in the breeze, it doesn't pass muster, my voice has nothing left, too late for the season, geese fly overhead, her face is the wonder, happy laughing clean, that I tore asunder, it's quiet by this shed, my place of need, I’ll take here some rest, left open for me.

Maria

It’s not a love of rain, a bird on the wire, that you rage against, shuffling in the gloom, waiting by the fire, no one’s here to tell you, many come this way, pester you for hire, they ask and ask again, to do what you do, your eyes a hidden fire, that dance forever blue, an offering to be made, old cars burn out tyres, this is where you live, forever someone’s due, quench each waking desire, nothing else is true, such miracles they crave, with the tongues of liars, betrayed by flames, you tickle a wooden bier.

Tony

Conceal the bitter news, take it to my grave, I'm back from the land of guns, drunk on borrowed goods, won’t be the same again, sat in a borrowed pew, a country dance I prayed.