New Mexico

Orchard

/ Katrina Kaye

Katrina Kaye

I’ve passed this place
a thousand times,
but this is the first
I’ve bothered to pluck
fruit from tree and
allow it to squeeze in
my palm. I swat flies
from eyes. They have
a tendency to hover here;
eager for sweetness, they
block my view, twist sight
into kaleidoscope. I have
spent my life resisting
the sugar that sticks between
tiny hairs which litter
my thighs; but now, I
am learning how to cover
my tracks. To slip secret
through yard and wet my lips
on the ripe. I have never
been one for proper manners.
I wade into orchard,
follow the sound of the
records your mother spins
from house. Wail along
to the deep voice which
balloons through the trees.
No one feels hunger in
quite the same way.

“Orchard” is previously published in Chasing Rabbits (2014).

Disintegration

/ Katrina Kaye / Leave a comment

Katrina Kaye

I am no longer
tied to
the tangible.
I spread
wings. I fly.
Dripping
flesh from bone,
leaving cells
skipping
into the wind.
I wasn’t built
to be statue.
You knew it
the first time
you grabbed
my hand and
it dissipated
like sand
through your
fingers.

“Disintegration” is previously published in Saturday’s Sirens (2022).

The Dream

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Katrina Kaye

I dreamt I went to
the hills. Surviving on

fresh spring water, apples
from an overgrown tree,
and the poetry of Wordsworth.

I rode a yellow horse
through a moon filled sky.
The earth, drenched
from recent downpour,

spits spots of splattered mud
to my calves as I rode through
rocks and brush, forgotten paths
and overgrown trails.

This is my oasis:

lush grass up to my waist
rocky creeks singing sweetly,
the breeze drying the tears
that leaked from wind rushed eyes.

I swear I found it:

a life of intention and purpose
wrapped in the simplicity of
earth and sky, sun and moon.

Something I can never hold,
but can feel with every inhalation.

But dawn came,

trampling through my trees,
ripping through my silence,
ending my peace,

with the reality of the waking world.

“The Dream” is previously published in Hazy Expressions (2007?) and a scattering of imperfections (2009).