book giveaway!

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/343070-up-from-the-downtrodden

free e-copy of my new poetry book

like colors we run

we dodged the skin of palms

morning after the storm we

never made it to work. like

strays in the park like 

colors like dreams 

they cannot hold us 

we run free     

#katyamills

august.sacramento

the sky was a peach at sunset and fire at dawn and we ate lemon ice and prayed that the city’s electrical grid would hold up. the number of homeless had risen and not all could not be housed. caring citizens were combining forces and giving away tents on the weekend. others were cold complaining to cops and assemblymen: get these sorry-ass derelicts off of my street!

a kid told me people suck

a kid told me ‘people suck’ and i could not deny that they do. what if we all suck up to 50% of the time on average? could we still have faith we won’t ever suck more than half the time? we could dream of being suck free some day

book giveaway!

Daughter of Darkness

by Katya Mills

Giveaway ends June 26, 2019.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads. Enter Giveaway

get my book 4 free today

my book is free in ebook format today on Amazon.com !

the legend of captive 8

captive 8

did not hesitate

they made it out

somehow

the words

on dying

breath persist

i am free

now

captive 9

may never know

the old great feel

of earth

   and pine

         and snow

of trees and moon

long shadows

glow

a foot of snow

held their imprint

form

so long

home they went

beloved captive 8

due north

for what

a life was

worth

captive 9

had heard

the shot

disintegrate

all hope

as well

that night

behind the downy

swell

they cried the memory

clean

of one

who shared

the singular dream

locking doors

and prison whores

‘neath the cold

steel

toe

all they ever

knew was all

they ever

know

3 books (free audiovisuals)

three books. audiovisual

Good news! All three of my published books are now available on my youtube channel — Katya Mills — in audiovisual format. You can watch or listen to me reading them as sequential playlists in 5 minute increments. If you enjoy my work, you can find them all in paperback and ebook formats on amazon.com and other e-booksellers. I am an independent author with profiles on both Amazon and Goodreads, and a Facebook page. Thank you for your support!

Grand Theft Life
Maze
Girl Without Borders

indie author katya mills 2017

free

The air was popping and crackling and exploding all around us, and as the sun set i listened to independence day sing her song, sizzling and whistling and screaming into darkness, and the chaos of my mind went dead finally, in the midst of this busy life, and i became a small yet meaningful voice among millions, no, billions of inflections wishing to be heard. And small yet meaningful was all i ever was and cared to be.

give.free.or die

free or die

I wish i could stop myself, arrest my forward motion, always in a rush the way i am, to be there for someone who is calling on me, in a hallway, on the street, out in the front yard or on the sidewalk heading to or from work or errands. Often they call and they always have. Years ago i stopped stopping for them, to give them my time and attention, no, i taught myself not to give my presence and maybe only a smile or not, giving nothing else but a smattering of words, before making my way to the next destination in a rush. i was usually in a rush. i still am. but it was more than that, i was also fearful and guarded of people from a young age, you see, i was the exact same age as the first kid whose face was plastered on the side of every whole milk carton back in the 1980’s. those kinda happenings were iconic then and remembered dearly today, too, for they changed the operation of many a nuclear family, and likely the percentage of latchkey kids fell down for a moment, as mothers and fathers and aunts and uncles began to watch a touch more closely their kids. all i remember is i was called home many early evenings when i preferred to be out wandering the streets with my young friends. i thought surely when i reached double digits i could be trusted to come home in my own time, but nope it rarely happened. sure there was a lot of freedom, after all, this was america and this was new hampshire and this was live free or die country. so i did my fair share of wandering, skateboarding around playing cards, chewing bubble gum, and making out with other kids. still, guardedness got drilled into my dna and today it takes a concerted effort to open my heart to anyone at any time, for i always feel like many particles of magnet being sucked north. there must be a mantra in my head to help me along back into my original open and giving ways. give free or die! that’s the one! i found it! now to put it in motion and change my life, i cannot wait! to start stopping for them again! fresh! to stop when i think i am in a rush and ask myself, why, katya, are you in such a rush? where really do you think you oughta be at this moment? can it not be here? with this one who is calling upon you in a simple greeting and willing to stop and give themselves freely to you? are you not honored? and can you not stop also and honor them with your presence? give of yourself freely today? what is the cost of all these moments in the halls, on the sidewalks of the world, in the streets, in the parks? the cost, my friend, is the life itself. for what is living if not sharing and loving and caring? these small exchanges, when widened and opened and made space for, they are the life! are they not? please, give free or die, i pray that i may answer the call of my people in the world, and today may i be with you. for you are all i really have, and i am yours.