New Moon

Katrina Kaye

I balance on rocks
surrounding bonfires,

feel the warm flares
reach for my face,

my laughter mixes with
crackling flames.

flames awaken
an animal
inside my body

and there are
nights and yellow
moons when I allow
it to roam

tonight,
I am wild spirit

the rabbit
in the moon makes
feral mouth water
and howl erupt
from gut

I am here
warm and alive
and ready to run

Cherries

Katrina Kaye

You pick the ripest cherry,
and gift me the treasure like gold.

I set it on my tongue,
crush the tender skin into sticky mush,
separate the seed from the sweet
hold it in my teeth.

We decide to plant every seed.
We find a shady spot,
a place praised by morning sun,
yet safe from the afternoon burn,
and lay down our seeds.

We water with best intentions
and tend with the most desperate of hope.
But the ground is hard, stark and barren,
and gold does not sprout from wishes,
no matter how well tended.

At the Funeral

Katrina Kaye

The fans
in the back

of the church
sound
like rain.

It would
be a good day
for rain,

but the
sun peeks
through
stained glass

revealing miles
of insolent blue.

“At the Funeral” is previously published in Chasing Rabbits (2014).