Collection

Katrina Kaye

A collection of moments:

Fireflies twinkle again mountain side
near a river in North Carolina.

The heat got to me, leaving me sick
and dizzy after only two hours on the road.

Rain falling on the windshield blurring the
view of the highway. A moment of panic.

Falling asleep in a ray of sunshine that
sneaks through dingy window.

Coffee stains on white shirts, forgotten names
of relatives, pink lipstick on front teeth.

The time on the California Highway when the fog
handicapped my eyes with a sheet of white.

I thought it was the end until I saw the brake
lights pierce the mist.

Do the clouds have so much power
they can make a lazy mind time travel

to a place of yellow and orange and gold
where the sun is not kept from my skin?

A hastily written confession in
the form of a letter, never acknowledged.

Music in the morning air from a bird
who sits upon wires singing songs of gratitude.

Have I done enough to be awarded
a simple life?

“Collection” is previously published in Verse Vital (2023).

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.