cross

when the sun hit the sky

the disturbance had washed out

they body and mind 

a formerly great splash

of paint. how peaceful life

again had become

when the sun genuflect

met and crossed the sea 

#katyamills

off the coast of friendship

we could tell the future

by the birds gone quiet

a change in the winds

our energy jumped

full of dread we shouted out!

like we gonna perish

then the storm subsided

left our faces wet and salty

lush and flush 4 the sunshine

#katyamills

Dallas

bronzed with nails of gold

sick of waiting on hold 

she threw her hair back 

gotta jump on her '89 Peugeot 

to Dallas. intercepting lines with a decadent hum

intermittence of back lit squares

mascara and eyeliner bold

triumphant she got in on the other

side and out of the cold

    

#katyamills

aces

when the magic dried up the

onlookers moved 

on 

the suits 

jacks and queens in diamonds

the spades and lonely hearts

the kings

leaving them

only true 

aces

#katyamills

samsara

why try and escape

the life anymore? be a drop of water

inside this rainy day and

cycle through the 

system

#katyamills

the day social media died

cat out mousing 

to sharpen his claws i

 stuck inside dredging 

the twitter feed like some 

weary curator 

in a third rate watered

down shop of intrigue 

and horror

#katyamills

luck.y

i'm a lucky one found

work that makes me think

and feel. congruent with my 

mission on this fucked up 

planet earth

#katyamills

mission.29

days and nights
the stress i gotta suppress
my feelings sometimes
before they run me
away from
you

nights and days you
give me a hard
time i don't
know exactly what
to say

not unusual like
any day i think i'll get up go

back to the
mission

#katyamills

excerpt

They were in Florida at the time. Ocean, orange juice stands, rednecks, salt and sugar, lizards. She was coming down for a visit one week. The summer of ‘98 found them smoking and drinking, watchin the surf pounding away at the beach, lulling them to sleep until the sun rose and woke their asses up. Pop some X and go for a swim. Lay out the multicolored towels. Feelin the sun layin in the light. He was pushing into keys on the typewriter nights while she kicked back on the couch reading magz. They worked their fingers across the board so the letter arms wouldn’t rust, living off the pay and bonus from the last job. Rumbling around the intercoastal on the bike to take the steam off a hot humid day after the noon rains.     

- Katya Mills. Excerpt from my new project, tentatively titled They The Firmament.

soft.into.the.life

the bricks let
the elements
soak into the
skin

i hit them
hard

dropped a fin
on the bar for a gin
watching you go
soft into the
light


i can't help it
im obsessed by
the song

please
can we play it
again?

rewind all our fast
trax play it super
slow together
relax

we got no choice we
gotta move on
im sorry but ill be
ok

watchin you go
soft into the
night

gotta find
my voice soft
into the night
soft into the
light its hard
on us

this life


#katyamills

ghost of green eyes

ona street a cat
confronts me the ghost
of green
eyes

came up crying
talking to me
like you felt
my pain

you did

know how to hiss
forgot how to
purr

i got some crumbs
for you and some
time. get down
low

crying

ghost of green
eyes. here

i remember i
was not allowed
to


#katyamills

F-stop

i click my visions off
rest my elbow on your
thigh to F-stop and find
some damn balance


#katyamills

seven ways of saying

keep showing
up don't let these thoughts
overpower you. stressed
detained i see you locked
inside a flame beside
the river

talk to me show me how
you feel. we are water when
we let go

#katyamills

pepper tea

the subtle thing got a little louder the
magnanimous one dropped back some. when they met
for pepper tea the not so subtle truth told the big
thing you sure made me feel important
you did. thank you. they stirred sugar
evenly. room enough
for two

#katyamills

am.pm dawn in america

nothing forced we
plot course let it take us
dawn in america. we were wrong we got right
my apartment an organic
living mess like the desk of a social worker on wednesday i
tried to take flight off the screen off the paper
now i'm grounded. stay still. chill
the time we got to spendin
you were the one. i couldn't care what they saw
the faded flags fly eyes
desert dry i could cry coffee
for all the sleep we lost
the sunrise. the 8th wonder
of the world

#katyamills

life before cars

i remember you years back. funny and loud
silence didn’t stand a chance

they expanded the freeway

now i cannot hear the birds
like they planned it

ten lanes now
the whole family out

bowling. an icy can of orange and two

tone shoes. big shiny ball ona slow roll

i got you in my head again. when you left

it was life before cars



#katyamills

snapshot 25

the sky is asking the
water running i
discard my early morning jeans
step into the
peach skin of apartments
the weave of baskets the
morning sun the
life of the

day


#katyamills

june 25

capture my imagination
provoke it. feed it beans and
rice and release it into
what's left of
the wild


#katyamills

1985

a skinhead ina truck ahead of me flying
beyond the limits drifted left hit the median
at thirty degrees bounced off
fender crumpled

brakes burning i thought it was over
for all of us. dirt from the shoulder rising
to meet the windshields
giving us flak

then
like nothin happened
we picked up speed and drove on
heartbeat tapering down

the trajectory of my life is not dissimilar
almost totaled

like nothing happened i go on
body demands coffee day and night

approaching fifty like i'm
twenty-five. takin flak. sense of purpose
no different than it was
back in ‘85 

#katyamills

june 21

slept for ten hours and would have
more but for hydraulics screaming
under weight of recycling beyond
the back door. dissociated after my sugar crash i
zoned out on credit karma
to witness the inevitable separation
of self from hard-earned
cash

#katyamills