Iron and Sulfur

Water

/ Katrina Kaye / 9 Comments

Katrina Kaye

I want to be
river:

persisting despite rocks
and debris,
moving forward
until the discovery of peace
distinct as reflection
in puddling pond’s
shimmering surface.

I want to be
ocean:

calm when captured,
but contain currents
with the capacity to
overturn ships
and drown a man.

I want to be
rain:

unpredictable as the
size of each drop,
holding the promise
of life as well as the
threat of storm.

I want to be
water:

content to fish bowl,
yet curious for more.
shapeless and vast,
heavy and ethereal.

Like water,
I want to be strong,
indiscernible,
and necessary.

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

X

/ Katrina Kaye

Katrina Kaye

One tied to my
left wrist,

wraps silver around
ring finger,
pulls with
all his might.

He wants to keep
me. Take me away
in a whirlpool of
reckless dreams
doomed to dissipate.

He knows nothing
of the cruelty
of the earth.

*

The other
strapped herself
to right ankle,

wants nothing
more than my smile,
says she loves me.

I stopped calling
her a liar.

She wants me to walk
on her, wants to be
my road, holds me
firmly to the ground.

*

I am tied,
pulled in
opposition

and have grown tired
of the struggle.

All I want is
to touch
my own skin.

Yet I still
tremble at the
thought of being
let go.

“X” is previously published in September (2014).

On the Plane

/ Katrina Kaye / 4 Comments

Katrina Kaye

to Houston,
I catch the scent
of my grandmother.

I couldn’t place
it’s origin,
but I knew
it as her.

I am not one to commune
with other worlds,
never been touched by angels
or seen flashes of god.

I have the spirituality
of an earth worm,

but
I still hope.
I always hope.

And my mind wonders at
the wandering soul
of my grandmother
as she passes through
narrow cabin.

I slip
into seat
and let her slip
into my mind.

Freely,
I trace the veins of
her cold hands,
the lines of her smile,
the sound of her laugh
all these precious memories,
cradling the images
close at mind,
tight to heart.

But they wander easy,
fade in a mere moment
as fast as
passing breeze
into the light
of rising sun.

“On the Plane” previously published in the collection, my verse…, published by Swimming with Elephants Publications, LLC in 2012.