Thursday 31 March 2022

march 2 april

 4:40 am 

tangleweed of precertain thought and feeling

decisive i 

turn whole oranges

to juice


#katyamills

Wednesday 30 March 2022

the dial tones

piano chords 

hooked into circuit boards

tapping feet

fears of becoming 

obsolete

grounded by the dial 

tones


#katyamills

Tuesday 29 March 2022

curiosity.2

days we looked up

amazed at the sky still in its deep blues

what all that went down in the dirt

here on earth


#katyamills

Monday 28 March 2022

curiosity.1

violence at the oscars. openly transphobic bestselling authors. i gave myself half the time it took to drink my cup of coffee thinking on it. then back to work.

Sunday 27 March 2022

hard 2 be gentle


sucking fossil fuels 

engines roaring 


it's hard to be 

gentle with our self 

hatred  


#katyamills

o.mission

they lost the sea a long time ago. they had to believe in the country as ascendant, powerful again. all they made off that land in the east, farming it, working it, was indispensable to the world. so roll the dice, old school style with tanks and battalions. the one in power decided it for them, the time was now, give your grown men for the military, the only chance was by land. a great many families got crushed up and swallowed. for what? by omission the whole thing was a lie.  #katyamills

Friday 25 March 2022

signs

tiger strides over to kiss his brother 

when i begged them not to fight

mom is ghosting and i feel it 

letting its leaves hang this plant asks for water

a dove nesting above the door

another sign from god 


#katyamills

march 29

we were young 

the wilderness was calling 

ice broke up on the river 

startling the eyes the stars 

the skies       


#katyamills


fight

when you love someone you fight together. not even death can divide you

#katyamills


kharkiv

a school teacher two months ago

drawing figures on a board

now a colonel in the Ukrainian army

fights side by side with his son 

25 miles from the border

telling any Russian soldier within earshot 

you better run


#katyamills






Sunday 20 March 2022

ice.breaker

when the ice finally broke

wasn't the hammer cracked it up

it was the warmth 


#katyamills

look away

years after the rescue my tiger finally lets me gaze into his eyes

 

#katyamills


dys.con


the internet was fibre

the optics stunning

our voices crystal in bluetooth synchronicity

the algorithms matched for reconnaissance

like hereditary genes and 

why why why 

do we not connect


#katyamills

land


the questions

they do not land

let us prepare the tea

and with the sunset 

be 


#katyamills


Wednesday 16 March 2022

we locked eyes in a dream

we locked eyes in a dream we 

locked eyes and upon awakening it seemed

this dream was no longer a dream


why would you hunt me?

my love it can kill you 

on contact


#katyamills


yosemite image by katya mills c 2022    

Tuesday 15 March 2022

3.15

the fashionable way to work was collectively

and remotely. with minimal identity markers

you take to those who can help solve a problem

if this can be achieved without speaking

even better      #katyamills

Monday 14 March 2022

small pleasures


glass bottle coca-cola
free wifi in laundromats and libraries
youtube tutorials 4 DIY operations
cheap cigs from chinatown
free exchange of labor (aka home depot parking lots)
crossing the state line to gamble on sports
puff powder clouds on blue sky days
cold brew coffee

#katyamills

50


50 states 150+ years 

free from ground war combat

in the gooey center of 

global decay


#katyamills

Saturday 12 March 2022

solidarity

a full tank nearly broke the bank

the price of gas rising almost feels decent like

solidarity with Ukraine 


#katyamills


yosemite 3

Chinese Camp

the down side of an ascending grade

10am. we stretched legs made acquaintance of goats and roosters 

and storekeep. fed quarters to the candy machine

 the candy was pellet feed


note to self: people like animals but not as kind

the cocks were a-doodling we were a-dawdling 

raggedy coats made of feather beneath table mountain 

the sun lost its way in the clouds


#katyamills

yosemite 2

the rain turned to heavy snow and back to rain

we got so small our problems smaller than we

hid cryin wrapped around a knee tryin 

to hold on you gave me a hug and a kiss

the old world turned to vapor before our very eyes

the pen gave a tug on the paper i

wrote a poem with hardly any words


#katyamills



yosemite 1

the microclimates were moody 

five thousand feet high in places

long faces 


we joined the chorus we 

sang the song of 

shadows


#katyamills



YAQUI


i am in sacred company

the Apache and you

feather of ink down the forearm. Yaqui tribe

the sky commanded the ground

be still


#katyamills

everything is alive

everything is granular everything

pulsing everything is

alive


who says you cannot communicate

with the dead?


  #katyamills



yosemite inn

the parking lot a river and we crossed it

you took our order while gazing lovingly @ your cell phone

we were dripping wet and starving

garlic pepperoni cheese and tomato

you forgot the green peppers 


#katyamills

3.11.22

the collie lunged at me 

she barely kept it back by the leash

my heartbeat quickened

i ran 5 miles for a personal

best. thank you fear


#katyamills

Tuesday 8 March 2022

schizoaffective


some kids hear and feel and see stuff
we cannot. when they finally confide in someone
they are often disbelieved they
must be crazy. distracted from their schoolwork 
they become anxious and depressed
even suicidal. things will only get better when 
they find someone they can talk to who believes 
and maybe introduces them to a psychiatrist 
too if there is no other way

#katyamills

Thursday 3 March 2022

welcome


a dispatcher at the quarry she helped manage traffic
trucks driven by burly men carrying loads of rock and sand
these long and early mornings in the valley

all he wanted from her was a welcome when he said thank you over the CB
he played a game in his mind

not understanding the consequences a woman could face
pronouncing a few friendly words
to each and every one

#katyamills


freedom square


it's easy to wanna give Russia all we got

one would have to be spiritless to not wanna join 

the citizens of Ukraine in this fight against 

country one hundred times in size

yet the Russian people... they are good people

they should not be subjected to war

either   


#katyamills




Up from the Downtrodden


Book synopsis: Divided into quintets, Up from the Downtrodden offers the possibility of hope to anyone feeling hopeless in the world today. The poems within, culled from a period of inspiration and resurgence after more than a decade of hopeless struggling and despair, honor both the darkness and the light. There is a chance, when the two are integrated, to turn what is bitter in life, sweet.

‘heavy metals’

dissociative
staring at the wall again
they turned up the volume

zero calorie heavy
metals to defend against they
demons



Get your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Up-Downtrodden-Katya-Mills/dp/B09T66LP1G