From The Black Naught

I wasn’t ready to start my day. I wanted to stay in bed, wrapped up in Peter, and watch the rise and fall of white cotton sheets for a little while longer. Or close my eyes and go back to dreaming. In my sweet sleep, you were sat on the beach, building sandcastles and exhaling

Daddy, I Was Angry, Too

I was angry, too, so I sat down beside her in the mauve painted bedroom. Your face lay in fragments, strewn about the floor. The carpet was brown, and worn too thin. Loose threads tickled my bare legs. I crossed my legs, and selected a photo album. The kitchen shears felt good in my irrational

Metal Scrapes Porcelain

My mouth is pregnant with sound, but my lips form only silent shapes; and you taunt me over a plate of post-fuck scrambled eggs. You used to love my scrambled eggs, but now you’re not even eating; you push the food around with a fork while I swirl a glass of pink zinfandel, and contemplate

A sneak peek into The Black Naught by Kindra M. Austin

A Dream I Had

I And from the evergreen trees, walked a herd of white-tailed deer— two pairs of twelve point antlers leading through a field, dead brown, and crisp. The sky was colorless; sun shone butter pale, unmelting. II Seemingly unseen, I watched, and the deer continued to near. Two by two, they shed their great horns, and

Depression Stills Me

I Depression stills me again, and I watch with concrete eyes. Women I never could have been see me only as a monument for the otherwise; and I am lonely, here in this public park. Pigeons clutch my fingertips and peck at my nail beds; flecks of red collect at my feet and I’m reminded

I Die Every Hour/Within Irises

I I die every hour, watching you conform to all the ideals you were never meant for. You were never meant for… If only you would fall between my lines. I write to you honestly, my messy love, before midnight. I love you truly, complicated heart. You beat against your cage— rage against the cage

I Stopped Praying (from Heavy Mental)

I heard her troubled murmurs tangled with the soft gravel of a man’s voice; his name was Not My Dad, and he was dancing with my mom in the too bright kitchen, down the hall. Their shadows came in waves, crashing into the darkness beneath my bedroom door. They’d just finished fucking, out in his

Heavy Mental Paperback Now Available

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Now Available for Kindle: Heavy Mental by Kindra M. Austin

Originally posted on Brave & Reckless:
Find yourself at home with unexpected time on your hands? It’s a great day to read Heavy Mental, Kindra M. Austin‘s brilliant new poetry book. Released today for Kindle. Print version coming soon.