Collapse

Katrina Kaye

I had a poem
on my tongue
when I closed
my eyes.

It was stolen
by sleep.

A tiny collapse
of dreams
and empires,
only grand
because of its
destruction.

“Collapse” is previously published in Rabbit for Luck (2016).

Pieces

Katrina Kaye

We forgot
how to touch.
Our bodies go
through the motion,
the repetition.

The pulse
and flex;

it is
too much.

It is
not enough.

You sleep
beside me,
only a
whisper away,
yet I can’t
remember
what your hands
feel like
on my body.

I like to
tell myself,
it is easy to
fall back into
place.
But these
pieces have
turned jagged,
misshaped,
rough to touch.

On nights
like this,
I prefer to
sleep alone.

Katrina Kaye

the love song
I used to sing to you?
and how I meant every word,

but now I confuse the verse
with one I wrote for myself
and the words that were
on the tip of my tongue
have regressed to the
pit of my stomach.

I can’t sing for you
anymore.