published

 Yesterday I got the good word that another story of mine was accepted for publication in the Meniscus Literary Journal of Australia. this is the 3rd little neurotic bundle of emotion ive gotten published this year and I feel I am just getting started with short story form. https://duotrope.com/magazine/meniscus-literary-journal-16726 

#katyamills

relentless

when i turn the lights down i let life glitter and fade like the tail end of a comet. the lungs fill up. a lonely dog howls. the words turn into images and bridge to another life. when I dream it's relentless.

#katyamills

4.8.25

you need

not be 

scared of 

death 

yes you may 

miss your 

tired body 

when we 

return to 

the great 

beyond 

which is very 

very much 

well and 

a thrill like 

coming 

home 

after long 

time 

away

#katyamills

4.4.2025

here is a novel I wrote a few years ago. I am super proud of it. the highest marks aka reviews of all my 7 publications. tale of survival. it is creative nonfiction. dual narrators face dangerous urban characters ...

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42799793-ame-and-the-tangy-energetic

distance between us

the distance 

between you and me 

i cannot live without it anymore 

you cannot walk up on 

a rattlesnake 

we tried but where 

what we once had was 

back when i was a kid 

only a shadow 

remains

#katyamills

euphoria

the cobalt eyeliner

silver shadow 

each tendril of lash 

cocooned in 

mascara 

we have no euphoria 

concealer

#katyamills

speaking of euphoria ... I just found out a story of mine was accepted by Cabrillo for the upcoming summer issue ... https://www.cabrillo.edu/journal-x/

3.26.25

somewhere 

in the second year 

of writing it 

the book becomes my all 

insatiable 

I forego companionship 

food 

sunlight 

music 

but not coffee 

2 finish

#katyamills

3.25.25

desire 

never did me no good 

until it was 

what I wanted 

for you

#katyamills

cell division

 they used to take her apart 

with a single criticism

it takes a very many years

to know yourself indivisible

even mitosis has no effect 

on her. she laughs and shrugs

them off 

#katyamills

radio.active

we dyed our hair
radioactive we
refused the onset of spring
stayed underground
we smoked and drank
wiped dopamine trails
from our eyes


we held hands


not everyone copes
the same we
are in this
together

#katyamills

3.20.25

An endless cup of coffee took me from the pages out into the streets I could no longer be still and stumbled into the eyes of an alley cat who froze electrified then jumped ten times its height on to a ledge. disappeared. my back fell to the wall and I felt a good story in my veins taking the concrete and casting it in a sempiternal shine.  #katyamills

clock radio

the lullaby

was a mixture of clock radio

distant uproarious laughter

and piano chords

down the case of stairs where partying

had no end

#katyamills

3.14.25

tell me

if my work feels

myopic

i will do the turn

philanthropic

like Kafka

strike and drop a sulfur head

and watch

the fire in my eyes

reflecting

all my shite

burn

#katyamills

critic (inner)

the critic

obstreperous

in the head




he took a purposeful tumble

off the top of

the stairs




to get quiet




and make

the body

ache

#katyamills

formulaic

calling us
from the chapel
the bells chime


in my youth
i am a mixture of social yearning
and fears


a family system
of attack and
reprisal


formulaic
my tears

#katyamills

dam it

I built a weir to keep the good memories and on the difficult days feeling discouraged i swam up there. #katyamills

pom

 he pokes the floorboards with his cane. hand trembling. benign. always on the move through hallways between back yard and front. encircled by eight tiny dogs he called his kids. a veteran of the war he lives alone. the redhead pomeranian guards the bedroom door every night. 

#katyamills

nation in distress

the sky held all

kinds of weather

colorful in the east

storm clouds in the west

precipitating

the involution

a nation in

distress

 

#katyamills

they break up

they broke up with you and your damn phone @ the emporium of communications

they finally had enough

by #katyamills 3.5.25

recent Bluesky blasts

 she don’t care to be incognito anymore she got tired of hiding she was doing it reflexively out of some codependent bs she got trapped in as a kid

they took to writing and drawing … feeling unseen and unwanted by all but the fish in the bowl … staring at them with fearless eyes … swimming in place on the other side of the glass

all the money money money money money money made 4 sadness avarice madness without it we were forced 2 make more

dreamy staring at the xray contours of a root canal while the novocaine sets in

I think I can afford a milk tea with the tax refund I just wrangled

no one ever accused me of being normal

every day waking up you have the chance to start your life over

You can protest in your own way. There are endless ways you can disobey. It’s okay. Express yourself.

Do not let your thoughts of the past or future destroy you

by #katyamills 3.5.25

3.4.25

 the penumbra of memory ... shine the light there ... you were caring for something living ... a little furry animal ... your first ... and it was all you wanted to do ... how caring turned you on

#katyamills

outlierz

outliers
we were
skittish
insecure
protesting
demure
vulnerable
to the climate
like cats
without
fur

we
somehow
milked clarity
out of
a blur

got
stronger
more connected
secure

working
out from
within

#vss365
#outliers
#poetry

2.25.25

 the spell of French roast. they was fringe unable to cross into the heart land. lips on fired clay. never mind the mind. and the taxes. and the nightmare. a cut on the thumb mostly healed. they began to type. speak from there. rose in color. touched with pearly foundation.  #katyamills

2.23.25

 my tooth is cracked my ears are ringing the light is hurting my eyes and i have a million things to do and politics on my heart but let us start by writing. #katyamills

petulant patty

the puffy face

of petulance

lips pressed so tight

they sever the air

and vacuum seal

the breath

like death

when all it was

was memory failing

to locate the

choice

word

#katyamills

2.19.25

they swept the dust off each journal drawn from a box in the attic worn from use bindings half-threaded holding on a reservoir of material thirty years of thoughts and reveries to date and transcribe in the sunlight of the recovered life    #katyamills

2.17.2025

it was subtle 

like an algorithm 

a moon phase 

even more so 

it was nonverbal 

unwritten 

untraceable 

we did our level best 

to stay with it 

its influence 

would not 

displace 

us

#katyamills

2.16.2025

i had the story and then i lost the thread. time warped the tense changed and the earth quaked and the person shifted and it started to rain and the music turned choral so it felt like i was in church but i was at home alone and no less sacred to capture more or less with words




#katyamills

enfant terrible

eighties punk 

we turned up the volume 

crossed our bloodlines 

et voila 

enfant 

terrible! 

#katyamills

2.14.25

the reasoning was complex & hard to follow. i am of the cats in the window frame eyes locked yearning for the morning dove. calling out with tender hearts. my words. my truth. no matter what they say how compelling they argue they cannot obfuscate it.  #katyamills

2.13.25

it was all very much to take in and we laced our boots for work was the greatest diversion from powers that be casting aspersion it was all very much to wake up to the light gave us hope and delight before every dark night 

2.12.25

 like Mercury

we were too close

and got burned

i can only see it i cannot feel it

unless i commit to write

when i recall that era

of our lives

#katyamills

2.11.25

i chase the morning story

by these backlit keys

trying to capture any

small triumphs

and not be bogged down

by despairs

within it




#katyamills

2.10.25

yes I have hopes 2 free the mind from desire from ego and all the attachments really but today I am happy with this free tall single-origin coffee and cash in my straight bet win. a momentary liberation from capitalism. 

#katyamills

hot & steamy

 i twirl this cannelloni 

veneziani

into a hot steamy

teenage technocracy

tomatoes 4 blood 

social media

cyclone

#katyamills

thoroughfare 1

the thoroughfare

exfoliated by abrasive city

air. i feel your presence

there. i search for

your voice. where?

my breath

drawn in and exhaled

by the passing

engines




#katyamills

2.5.25

 writing in the morning is a nexus where I can integrate my experiences where i can unravel the confusion where I counter the helplessness by a touch of agency which fosters hope and intensifies my desire to walk with you through chaos into a brighter day   #katyamills

ghost 2

the ghost of them lifted

fresh cut flowers from the grave

yawned and stretched

with the aromatics

stealing away in the foggy

gloom

#katyamills

2.2.25

 no umbrella 

for this plastic rain

i cried out against it

with all my might

fell back into your arms

we worked it off

at the pool hall

20th century relic

faded fabric tables

in blue and green

I finessed a stripe

into the side pocket you 

stopped the cue ball

on a dime

#katyamills

2.1.25

no thanks

gonna ride it out

no rockets to mars

but you can go

im stayin

thug it out here

on earth

I promise ill write home

the saturn space

lit mag




#katyamills

1.31.25

wade into the work 

wander

until you are anymore

no longer

sonder

with wonder (and a touch of guilt)

for not believing

you were only

doing your best

by what you were

given

#katyamills

1.30.25

 walking the city streets to work she stopped only for coffee. ideas clamored for attention since she shut out the news. today it was why not get a kitten for my two cats to raise? the wind bit her neck and she pulled up her collar. got to work super early. time to write. #katyamills

1.29.25

hoping to conjure up a good story
press words like piano keys push
warmth into the floorboards by
the soles of feet the souls
of characters etched
by heart

#katyamills

#5amwritersclub

Bluesky post 1.28.25 ... maybe your piece was inspired by an image. maybe it was a dream. or a thought. or something somebody said. or did. a week long snow storm. last night on my way home from work I witnessed two cars collide. it was frightening. surprising. not exactly inspirational ... not yet.

 #katyamills

1.26.25

she ran downstairs
flush with emotion and hid with a plushy under a blanket. the double digits of siblings counted off one short. they ran around crazy searching for her. the youngest hollered out I found her! I found her! all ran downstairs scared. blanket pull. tears of relentless joy


this morning I write with Intelligentsia pour over from Chicago and reading a 5,000 word story out loud to my cat Bunny and if he likes it I will submit
#5amwritersclub

#katyamills

1.25.25

5am. the wilderness in the heart need not be tamed. listen with all your senses. breathe into its arrhythmias. stay long enough to record it. if you dare.

#katyamills

1.24.25

 if you lose your way

focus on one word at a time

place your palm over your heart

and ask it to speak

#katyamills

1.23.25

 the room where I write has five walls and a light hanging off a ten foot chain. a newsprint by Banksy tacked up to remind me. a girl with her legs crossed. seated. looking thoughtfully at a bird. if you get tired, it says, learn to rest, not to quit.   #katyamills

get into it

read by blown

glass tear drop

sixty watt candle

light






get into it






lace the boots

pull them

tight

 

#katyamills

dis.solve

we crisscross the binary line until it finally dissolves

#katyamills

1.17.25

world closing in

out of luck out of 

money 

she castigates herself

all the mistakes 

retreat into sleep 

wake up by the sun 

oil the chain 

nowhere to run 

face the pain 

ride on

#katyamills

1.15.25

silence amplifies

the words amplify

the silence






we talk for a while and then i feel better

about it






what would I do without

you




#katyamills

1.12.25

woke up a little dizzy and shook the sleep #dust off. dreams have been particularly vivid this year. not sure why. hoping to rustle up a good story and nudge it out into the world. prayers for LA

#katyamills

1.11.25

 

@Katya444ever


there is no quit. there is fatigue and for this there is a solution. rest. then we wake again to our intentions what we value and let the spirit take us. there is no #quit.

sweet

You could just listen to them and enjoy them for a couple hours it's not like you had to go home with them. She was surface sweet. It's easy to lose yourself in a sugar cookie.

#katyamills

guess one eight

my guess is yours he said. so she took his guess and she loved the heck out of it and it turned into something so certain you could never say it was not true

#katyamills

 https://kissilent.wordpress.com/2025/01/08/guess-one-eight/

1.6.25

I went to measure my fingers for ring size. I got a gift certificate I can use for fashion rings. some of my fingers grew out at different slants. we were rough house kids. they broke and healed on their own. that was the way back then. live with it. #katyamills

1.5.25

the question I asked myself this morning: is there something wrong with me to not be dreading going back to work tomorrow after the holiday break? the answer: no. it just means you finally found work that uplifts and inspires you even while it tires you.  #katyamills

1.4.25

I tend to delight in things others dont make much of. I know you poets and writers understand. then it's like I am a bore to them. but I am not trying to be a great entertainer. just myself. the ones who care tend to show up for more.  #katyamills

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/

2025+

new year's day
high resolution imagery
fills the head
who i am
what i stand for
how i can
contribute to my
community
and have a great
fuckin
life!

#katyamills