In the painting,

Katrina Kaye

the girl meanders through golden hills 
at the magic hour in July.  She is falling in love with a boy 

she met earlier that day, and there is a song playing, 
familiar, yet the words are all new. 

It’s all an illusion,  
an ideal frozen to canvas with acyclic and water 
pressed into an idea of perfection. 

The playful daydreams of a California girl who 
only knew what she didn’t want 
but doesn’t know the words for what she does. 

And here I am, 
at 7:51 pm on a Thursday 
practicing saying I am what I am and that is enough. 

As if I don’t have better things to say in my sleep. 
As if speaking the words made them true. 

 

The other morning,

Katrina Kaye

the lilac in the front yard was filled with tiny birds.

Their first feathers still poofing under new coats;
all chirp and chatter in the excitement of learning to fly.

I watched them and their hurry; the exhilaration
of the new. What a lovely song.

There is no point to this story,
other than it made me momentarily happy.

The idea of capture and keepsake never crossed my mind.
There was no lust for ownership or some distortion of permanence.

No, this was just a twinkle;

a lost minute,

slip of seconds,

a glorious moment,

that ended quickly and forever.

 

 

“The other morning,” is previously published by Cajun Mutt Press (2024) and Kelp Journal (2024).