Poetry

Break up Poem

/ Katrina Kaye

Katrina Kaye

legs
bare
brown
smooth
to touch
can’t help
but watch
as they
walk away

ridiculous
the way
your lips taste

too much
gratitude
to be bitter

I gather
strength upon
back bone
desperate
to get the
tune right
to lure
you
to me

but the
smell of
your air
is rotten
is familiar
is perhaps
the same as
my own

don’t leave
this town
not yet
chance is still
hanging on
your words
unlocked
headlights
in the rain

I will try
to love you
better

“Break up Poem” is previously published in Saturday’s Sirens (2022).

Kate once told me

/ Katrina Kaye

Katrina Kaye

every poem begins
as a suicide note.
And a
well rehearsed
death
is always
winkled inside mind,

soaking there,
dripping stalagmites,
building blocks of
the subconscious.

Counting ticks
to midnight;
the story
so close
to conclusion.

Loneliness,

like rock candy
crystallizing on
popsicle sticks,
attaches to rib cage,

expands and compresses
with each
shallow breath.

I don’t have fear.

Sometimes the
only thing
that gets me through
is knowing

at any minute
I can stop it all.
I can rock and roll
out of this human suit,
shed soft covering,

reveal bare bone,
and empty cavern.
The sliver of power
over my life;

it is everything and
it is nothing.

“Kate once told me” is previously published in No Longer Water (2023).

Reminiscence

/ Katrina Kaye

Katrina Kaye

As the unsullied sun
peaks over the Sandias,
I recall the mornings
after your nightshift
when you would slip
into my room.

Your movements, slow
and silent, intent on letting
me sleep for that final hour,
but my eyes moved behind
closed lids, searching for you.

You undressed like a ghost and
crept in next to me,
still smelling of bar food,
cigarettes, cleaning solution,
a life I left behind.

It was only a twin bed
but somehow we fit.
We held each other,
my hand to your heart,
head tucked under your chin,
breathing slow and deep,
trying to create a lifetime
in less than an hour.

Sometimes,
I still think about you.

“Reminiscence” is previously published in A Scattering of Imperfections (2009).