Katrina Kaye

There is a crack inside me

impossible to see         with the naked eye
because it is covered               with flesh and bone,

muscle and vein,

but underneath
all the intricacies         that have made up
this form there is         a vacant space,

a hollow.

There was a time                     I rushed to fill it
to store
people and places        and simple memories.

There was a time         when the emptiness terrified me.

People should not have                       holes.
Are we not made

            of solid stuff?

But I have made peace           with the void within.

I am no longer             afraid of the echo
of my voice.
I no longer                   seek to be filled.

Instead I sit quiet        and cross legged

feeling the shelter

that comes

from nothingness.

Within that hollow,

I can allow      my eyes           to close

and my pulse                           to slow.
I can breathe deep and be;

exist,                continue.

I can find                                peace.
I am not

limited by                    my body

or the emptiness it holds.

“Empty” is previously published in Metonym Journal (2024).