Katrina Kaye

On days like this
I feel like the pills
stopped working, that
I need a higher
dose and I consider
calling my doctor,
saying I can’t
get out of bed, saying
there is nothing
here for me.

On days like this,
I hug friends for no
reason and don’t let go.
My dog’s brown eyes make
me cry when I have no time
to take him for a walk,
and I think I need a
new prescription,
to call someone,
to disappear for a while.

On days like this,

on days like this,
I think of my mother
and how she has made it
through days like this.
I must make it too.

On days like this,

on days like this,
I think of the clever words
I should have written
in bathroom stalls
in big, black sharpie marker.
I think about what
I should have said
the last time we met
and how that moment is
forever gone.

On days like this,

On days like this,
I think of the woman driving
the bus the same age as me
and wonder if she’s happy.
I think of  lost marbles
and pens that never
had a chance
to run out of ink.
I think about the rock
not pretty or special enough
to be collected and
the way the world ends
when you die.
I think of the promises
I made to myself and
the silence that came
when I broke them.

On days like this,

on days like this,

on days like this,
I don’t know if I can
make another day
like this.

“On days like this” is previously published in Light as a Feather First Edition (2014) and Saturday’s Sirens (2022).