Poetry

The Funeral

/ Katrina Kaye

Katrina Kaye

I know better than to wear mascara
to a funeral. I have no shame in
the tears rolling down my cheeks.
My chin remains level, eyes wide.
I brush streaks aside with open palm,
the flat of thumb. I don’t need
the comfort of cloth. I am soured by
the eyes of the saints. They hang from
wood and window trying not to show
us their wounds, yet the blood drips from
crosses over our heads. I am no longer
a child.

“The Funeral” is previously published in To Anyone Who Has Loved a Writer (2014).

Mine

/ Katrina Kaye

Katrina Kaye

you
you are mine

for me

you are the silver
on my fingers

the sweat along
my temples

you are mine

a confidence I don’t
have to share
or confess

a secret
not exactly
hidden
but owned

I have no
lingering value
or clandestine
treasure

there is just
who I am

and you
my gift

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

When the Time Comes

/ Katrina Kaye

Katrina Kaye

the moons I manipulated
will cease to swing
and shatter to earth

I will settle
softly upon the bottom
layer of soil,
a place where
weeds and mildew
proliferate

I will rot under the leaves
weathered flesh
and weakened bones,

it all decays
in the absence of light
there are no gods

there is only a fallen leaf
catching the wind,

lying separate,
teaching us
we all die

alone

“When the Time Comes” is previously published in the collection, my verse, published by Swimming with Elephants Publications, LLC in 2012.