soft wish

a single striped candle. a blazing light

i make a soft wish

he sings to me only once a year

and i adore him

#katyamills

song of a runaway

no longer could they be held

the most lonesome note you ever heard 

drifted off the deepest bottom of a breath

the first hours walking the streets 

searching for a place to call home

#katyamills

waiting out a storm

by candlelight

the coffee strong 

the songs we joyfully butchered 

the night long 

our differences cast

aside  

#katyamills

1984

the song hit the radio 

we ran for many blocks 

like someone left our cage open we

caught our breath in an army navy store

it was 1984. you held a pocket knife

under my neck. gimme all you got

my face turned red and hot

i dropped an elbow in your gut you 

were my best friend

#katyamills

blues of 20.20 twos

to the top of our lungs

the same songs we sing at the top

of the subway stairs

carrying our wares

carrying our cares

we pick ourselves up

the world goes around

like there’s no future

we let ourselves down

may we keep working

through the winters of self

may gratitude blossom so renewal can sprout 

from the roots into shoots

smokin reds

singing blues

the choices

we chose

need not be

the choices

we choose

#katyamills

geolocation

out from under

hundreds of miles of cassette tape

and wires. useless and bound by 

an ethos of noninclusivity they

patched it together they

sang they own wobbly

song til someone 

came around

#katyamills

o.zone

in the ozone

some choose some are chosen 

mixing it up with song and dance

others paid to capture 

and serve to witness in silence

the ultraviolet

charade

#katyamills

the 20 twenties

our songs of lipstick lead

immunity boosters and covid dread

our voices unpacked with dry ice

banded together in supersites out from 

under masks like mittens made of tires

forklifted from some autoyard in

vermont 

#katyamills

instru.mental

all the popular songs

penned on club napkins by

wasted wannabe

troubadours

looking back

they say i just wrote 

whatever to dispel

the journalists

the craving

for deeper meaning

and they aren’t often lying

a song never needed

a lyric like a lyric

needed a song

song

the song of summer has ended
and we nest inside our city
apartments

these dawns thaw out long
after the sunrise. i cut most
my hair off and dive beneath

the complexities

i can smile waking up again. i
can find myself again
in the winter. i

can see my breath

singing