Poet

today

/ Katrina Kaye / Leave a comment

Katrina Kaye

allow eyes to rest
press palms against
closed lids and exhale

hold breath

allow silence
release time

feel the bruises on
knees and the scab

on earlobe

trace the residue of memories
that have quicksanded
through cold hands

let the mind rest
try to forgive

embrace only
the streak of now

a  bird sings and the sun
insists on the slow drag
toward tomorrow

take time
to clean hands
and cross fingers

promise better

in the
last moments
of today

“today” is previously published in Saturday’s Sirens (2021).

Dulcinea

/ Katrina Kaye / Leave a comment

Katrina Kaye

“Those who have been told the truth
should not be taken for those
who have been scorned.”

The first time I liked
the sound of my name
it fell from your crooked lips.

Seemingly foreign,
yet easily interwoven into
ringlets framing my perception.

You speak each syllable sunshine
mixed with the awkwardness of the moon,
reflecting brilliance no matter the cadence.

For a fleeting moment,
in the melody of the occasion,
I too am fooled.

I see myself birthed from clam shell,
goddess gripping bow and arrow,
my words woven into golden strings.

You tricked me.
It isn’t just your sycophantic words
and slips of tongue.

It is in the way I see my reflection,
the shine of myself mirrored in your clouded eyes,
a strange smile readily returned.

The name you give me,
a gift,
more beautiful than I can ever be.

“Dulcinea” is previously published in Fevers of the Mind (2021).

Love and Honey

/ Katrina Kaye / Leave a comment

Katrina Kaye

I have grown tired of dreams,
the way they toss me through the night.

Perhaps there is not enough sugar in my diet.

Holy knows there is not enough caffeine
in a single cup to keep me from flailing.

I have only been hungry once in my life.
I have only turned animal during a solitary full moon.

This life is not what I expected.

There are footprints forming in the absence of warm bodies,
but no flesh covers these sun bleached bones.

I have no fear of the skeletons and the clicking of their heels.

If it is just a matter of hunger, would this heart
and all its dried red fruit be bitter to the taste?

I wonder sometimes about the difference between
love and honey, how only one holds the ability to survive.

“Love and Honey” is previously published in the collection, my verse…, published by Swimming with Elephants Publications, LLC in 2012 and Gravel Literary Magazine.