Poetry

We make our own magic,

/ Katrina Kaye

Katrina Kaye

don’t we?
We have a choice in the matter.

We can allow the ordinary the gift of extra
on days when our hearts are a little lighter,

when the sun glitters in our hair
and the wind brings gifts to our doorstep.

There is a battle between belief and logic,
magic and reason, and it is up to each of us
to choose a side.

Whether it be a butterfly upon tombstone,
the shedding of a snake’s skin,

or the playful curses
that come when lead fills our veins
and fire burns through a life’s work,

magic, if we choose it, is ours.

Spell

/ Katrina Kaye

Katrina Kaye

Something went wrong
when I was forgiving myself,

shedding my sins
like the “love me not”
petals of a drooping daisy.

there must have been
a syllable to the spell I left out,
or a verse I didn’t say
in the right order.

there must have
been more to include
that slipped my mind

slipped my hands,
fell to the floor,
scattered, like white petals,
still moist to the
touch of my bare feet.

 

“Spell” is previously published in Amazine (2025).

In Between

/ Katrina Kaye

Katrina Kaye

The woman I was is desperate
to find conciliation with the woman I will be.

We come together inside aging skin
and seek a stretch of days to cradle and

consolidate all that cannot be forfeit
before opening to all that is to come.

I am not yet finished.

I must create the new out of fragments of what was,
exchange the innocent for the seasoned.

The skin, once raw,
have felt the heat of summer days.

The trivial mixed with the essential
and all the slippery spots in between

seek a union, a compromise,
a new form, eager and able to embrace
all that is to come.

What once was green
|is now ripened red.

 

“In Between” is previously published in Introspection Quarterly (2022).