Poetry

Do you remember

/ Katrina Kaye

Katrina Kaye

the love song
I used to sing to you?
and how I meant every word,

but now I confuse the verse
with one I wrote for myself
and the words that were
on the tip of my tongue
have regressed to the
pit of my stomach.

I can’t sing for you
anymore.

The Pier

/ Katrina Kaye

Katrina Kaye

You can see where the old pier
used to be, hundreds of water
warped posts standing at attention
in the shallow water. You can see

how low the tide has receded. They are
lost souls, blackened by time and hard
water, seething salt from tattered torsos.
They watch the beach as if they remembered

the feel of sand between their toes but
they have sulked too long, become one with
the rippling patterns. Strangers forever
separated by five distinctive feet.

“The Pier” is previously published in Chasing Rabbits (2012).

Cold

/ Katrina Kaye

Katrina Kaye

I freeze
without you.

The towers
I place
around me
are set
on fire,

but they can
not keep
me warm.

I reach
for you,

not as easy
to find
as I hoped,

not quite
where I
thought you
would be.

In your
absence,
I lay
a slice
of memory
on my chest,
over flesh,

not as tender
as I remember,
not as much
a second skin,

yet
somehow
the shiver
is pacified.

“Cold” is previously published in Rabbits for Luck (2016).