Poetry

Wing

/ Katrina Kaye

Katrina Kaye

She stretches out,
lifting and lowering,
attempting to blend into background.

The magnificence of blue wing
is impossible to hide.
It is why they watch.

But she has an under coating,
dark brown spots and fine fur
blends to oak bark.

If she holds wings erect,
as opposed to flat,
she materializes to earth.

When she closes
herself to the sun,
like a brilliant iris
hidden by eyelid,
she becomes
her own.

The sparkle of blue metallic,
the flash and grab against sunlight,
is not her downfall,
it is what draws them,

but it is her underside,
the plain spots of ordinary wing
that keep her
free.

“Wing” is previously published in the collection, my verse…, published by Swimming with Elephants Publications, LLC in 2012.

On the Third Day

/ Katrina Kaye

Katrina Kaye

I let myself bleed and
smeared derangements
over upturned lips,
but you loved me anyway.

Hard,

with a fist and a curse word,
taking no tenderness with this tear,
paying no attention to fresh stitches.

You murked in my puddles
as if you were used to the rain.

As if it was nothing new to wipe
fresh red from blue vein.

You didn’t let me sleep.

You were up before dawn
trying me on like a new shirt,
seeing how I stretched around you.

Thin skin over muscle and bone.

How pretty this human suit looks
when it is crumbled on the floor,
never given a moment to bend
into my own shape,
easier to just twist around you in the dark.

On the third day
you left me for dead,
dragged my body to your favorite roadside diner
propped me up in a shallow booth,
adjusted my arms and face
as though they still beat blood
paid for runny eggs and burnt toast.
Your treat;
your turn.

These sleeves were just long enough
to cover the bruises on my wrists,
this hair just straight enough
to hide the bags under my eyes.

You took a moment to smooth my lipstick,
with a tender thumb.

“On the Third Day” is previously published in The Fall of a Sparrow (2014) by Swimming with Elephants Publications and The Legendary Issue 39.

Bird

/ Katrina Kaye

Katrina Kaye

I would love
to catch you
for a moment,

like an
inconsequential lie,
a fallen bird
I can teach again to fly,

and when you are
basking in your own sun,
send me a postcard
of the life you’ve won.

With scrawled note
telling me
you don’t need me anymore.

With scrawled signature
saying
Thank you.

“Bird” is previously published in To Anyone Who Has Ever Loved a Writer (2014).