Kaye

Alice

/ Katrina Kaye

Katrina Kaye

little girl
with the
blue dress

acts sad
as she
prances around
the yard

pretending fish
tell tales
and looking-glasses
hold more
than reflections

she stopped
eating
the pink
frosted cookies
when she
found out
they were
the reason
she got
so big

she stopped
digging in
the backyard
after she
realized all
the rabbits
fled their holes

she wishes
her imagination
would take
hold of
her again

instead of
teasing her
with glimpses
into what
might be

if only
she could
fall asleep
a second time

“Alice” is previously published in A Scattering of Imperfection (2009) and More Fire than Sun (2008).

Prayers

/ Katrina Kaye

Katrina Kaye

I know prayers like crickets,
small and sharp.

I pray to resist the temptation
of a Thursday night in the back
of your car and one drink too many.

I pray my body is in a state of redemption.

I pray skin toughens under desert sun;
the sand in my chest scrubs me clean,
scours the ill, the wicked,
the ugly
until it shines.

Do not allow me to regress into sickness.

Lead me not to deteriorate
into the fragile I once was.

I pray,

holding tight to wooden beads
that coddle the crook of my throat
cutting off circulation to hands,

 for daylight,

 for the flutter of wings,

for morning song.

“Prayers” is previously published in After Happy Hour Review (2022).

Boxes

/ Katrina Kaye

Katrina Kaye

Surrounded by boxes:

mementos and memories,
bits of a lifetime gathered
and collected, carefully stored.

Weren’t there days
when these collections seemed too few?

Not enough good times;
not enough adventures;
not enough pictures;
not enough.

Various yesterdays mixed together
until it is impossible to tell
one apart from the next.

Is that what makes a life?
The proof of adventures once lived?

Is that enough?

And when does it become too much?

When the photo albums are full?
When the knick knacks are entirely
covered by years of ubiquitous dust?
When the ink of written word
is worn unreadable?

What to do with all the time spent
when there is no longer energy
enough to open the boxes?

Previously Published in “Otherwise Engaged” (2024).