Katrina Kaye
one should not be
too careless with love
when the yellow finch perches
on fingertip, do not flick
her away; do not be crass
thank her for coming
ask her to stay
birds flutter and fly
they shift and peddle
small jerks and shifting eyes
they are not meant to keep still
let her stay
as long as she likes
and allow her the sky
when she chooses to take wing
“Finch” is previously published in Rabbits for Luck (2016).
Katrina Kaye
There is a problem
with becoming a warrior;
a sense of posture and
responsibility once
established is near
impossible to slouch.
Despite the tattoos,
scars, and harsh vocabulary
there are grenades
crumbling in my chest.
The child sacrificed
is hollering
through bones,
rattling through
circulation.
I carved a line that
cannot be uncrossed.
This shield can’t be dropped
for fear of an exposed vein.
My bow ever present
for fear of an empty hand.
The lullabies I forever
hummed by heart have
turned too sweet
to pass through these split lips.
It has been years
since the perfection of childhood,
yet I still curl like innocence
into the corners of my bed,
lying still so as not to be found.
“Warrior” is previously published in September (2014).
Katrina Kaye
due to the dirty dishes
or unrepaired holes in
the plaster. It was the
silence of your eyes.
Their passion drained
of all its red, the red
I once watched crawl
across your bed, before
it was our bed when I
was still chasing
dreams of migration.
It was the daily dregs
which cut the ropes of
our first love. The
terrible expression of
your day sipping cheap
beer just to get you
to sleep. It was when
we stopped going to bed
together and just slept
in the same place among
slightly different time
lines. The crack it left
was too severe and too
close to the skin. My
temperament dulled, the
anxiety that kept me bent
over kitchen sink has
dissipated and now I let
the dust collect on window
sill till it turns to mud
in the morning dew.
Previously published in Madness Muse Press (2020).
Chasing Rabbits 
You must be logged in to post a comment.