submission #1 published

 I am so happy one of my first submissions was accepted and published by New Words Press today! Here is the link ... https://www.newwordspress.com/solar-strike-by-katya-mills/

some boys

I made us rice and vegetables with soy sauce in bowls. we both used the chopsticks. I taught you how but you had not really wanted to learn but finally did. you lay back and held on to your belly carefully like there was a baby in there. Some boys can get pregnant. It's 2024.   #katyamills

stitched

i stitched together a so so morning after a night turning with visions and scratched up onerous sleep. i cannot count my blessings. innumerable are they. the counting itself helped me go down and get up nevertheless!

 #katyamills

Bernal Heights

we descended from Twin Peaks

to sun touched warmth on Cortland Avenue

i waited for you by the liquor store

on a steep deep hill in headphones

sketching an armada of

clouds

#katyamills

editorial

they bound the hay with cord

stacked in cubes on golden fields

like newspapers espousing causes 

forming larger cubes on solid earth

fated for consumption

#katyamills

make out session with life

we stopped scrolling

and streaming we put away our phones 

braved the weather 

stepped into our colors 

and made out well 

at the dance

 #katyamills

diamond in a dust storm

living off energy drinks 

other people's kindness

cunning with tears

no cash in the pockets 

expecting annihilation

they kept moving for a while

sun directly overhead

casting reflections they

perished like a diamond

in a dust storm

#katyamills

cheated death

she sipped the bone broth

he made her to recover her strength

after countless days in the elements 

the little ones hung off her thighs

and words as she shared

how she cheated death 

#katyamills

q butterscotch

they saw the man who attacked them in aisle 6 at Safeway

knee deep in fashion mags

unable to diminish the intrusions by breathing and affirmations

they grounded through the senses

a butterscotch lifesaver

#katyamills

wanted

they was being themselves

and they got told they was not okay

that way

this is how it is for us

this is why we stick together

so when they ask us to be someone

for them

we can say hell no

and go somewhere where we

are wanted

#katyamills

right to exist

on the margins of a world whose 

messaging often implores me 

to believe i have no place here

i live in affirmations like you're okay

you haven't done anything you have 

the right to exist!

#katyamills

consistency of

we drove north for hours. spotting birds by their wing marks. coming up with names for bands. stopped at Granzella's for local olives stuffed with blue cheese and jalapenos. we played our first gig as Consistency of Jelly. we bit down on pit fragments to give our teeth that i fought the law look punk bands have. it was a righteous way to kick off Pride.  #katyamills

endless

we went to bumble to find bffs. our talks were getting cold. the bffs took our energy and spent it. the sky fills were colorful and platonic which reduced the risk of harm. the water sexy and potable. rainbows appeared and decided to stick around. we wrung our hearts with joy, there being no end

#katyamills

the out and about crowd

in the in crowd

for the sum of years and days they

self-cancelled over crossed feelings

and forged identity

made a blood pact with the outsiders

to be fearlessly out

and about   #katyamills

miscast

growing up in new england they

was a gale wind pushing 

they voice through cracks in the mortar

wailing. no such tolerance

like everyone pulled together for 

all kinds of weather 

you got miscast who 

would fight for you? thrown on stage 

good luck remembering 

your lines     #katyamills

all of this is hard

you gotta fight for what
you believe in


anything you don't fight 4
probably ain't worth much

anyway   #katyamills

mood.Q

my mood was Q a big wide

open with a kick stand wants

to roll. like dynamite 

set off at sunset ina pumice 

equilibrium

#katyamills

despondent at 22

despondent at twenty two 

 where to go
what to do

classes had ended she
needed a job. she
broke up with
her

she smoked and walked the streets
feeling ditched

filled out applications until
a market took her in
a waitress

wasn’t tryin to get rich

her best friend moved
away. the rent she
could not pay

is there hope for me?
she asked the sky

happiness came in
little bursts like sugar
out of cloud cover

a sun ray

what on earth

a life could not be loved. many years unaccounted for. scratch the whole system. a rainbow upside down. send your colors into outer space. there's no home for you here.