On the Train West

/ Katrina Kaye

Katrina Kaye

I pass the time thinking of clothes drying on the line, a breeze dancing the arms of a shirt. I think of a girl reading a book on her bed, lying on her belly, feet swaying back and forth, back and forth like unheard beats of a metronome. I think of an ocean just beyond sight with dark waves and white froth as it reaches and pulls, reaches and pulls.

To pass the time, I suck on hard candy, drink a local beer, and pretend to know purpose, but I only know the rustle of wind, broken glass in the aisle, a little girl’s squeal and laugh, and the sound of rain as it breaks from the clouds which have hung heavy all afternoon. At once, it becomes music.

I wonder where the hopeful and heart beat are finding comfort tonight. The train seems to go on forever and the destination has long been forgotten. It’s easy to forget where we are going as the years creep up and over us. It’s easy to follow the familiar track without much thought or question. It’s easy to just hold your hand out into the wind and feel the world pass by without much thought for anything else.

There is nothing to prove. If we have learned anything, it is that the sun will rise eventually, regardless of whether or not we howl at the moon.

Things I Carry

/ Katrina Kaye

Katrina Kaye

I emerge from the darkness of my underworld
carrying a lantern and a handful of sunflowers.

In my back pocket are all the poems that have ever touched my heart;
in my boot a hidden twenty-dollar bill for emergencies.

Wrapped around me is every piece of advice my mother ever gave me
and every life lesson she never realized she impressed upon me.

I carry the music of Mozart humming in my throat
and the rare, honest smile of my brother in my memory.

I carry the good and the bad, the ashes of my fire and the hope for better,
a wooden box of mementos from the people I once knew and once knew me.

I carry the acceptance for what I cannot change
and a stubborn hope to change what I can.

I carry everything and nothing.
My hands remain forever empty and open.

It happened one night….

/ Katrina Kaye

At some point during the last day, my website reached a high of over 20,000 views.

I have been faithfully posting a poem a week since 2020 and, although I have never had a huge amount of traffic, I have steadily been gaining readership from all over the world.

This post is just to say Thank You. Thank you to everyone who has read one of my poems and thought, “that’s not bad.” Thank you to everyone who has shared a poem with a friend or through their socials. Thank you to all the people who subscribe to my site and thank you to all the people who regularly visit and “like” or “comment” on my posts. You have not gone unnoticed and my appreciation for your readership is one I feel deep in my heart.

I might never be famous or be able to survive on my creations alone, but 20,000 is a lot of views. Definitely more than I would receive at an Open Mic and definitely more than any book I’ve sold.  It makes me feel like maybe, just maybe, there are people out there who listen to what I have to say. And maybe those people, might actually get something from my work. I suppose that is all I ever really wanted.

Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!

I hope you continue to follow, read, and interact with my creations as long as I am able to create. Please comment, like, share, and let me know that my work matters, even if it’s just one poem, one idea, one feeling. It really means a lot.