we ride twelve feet tall on heat waves like they’re coastal swells:
growing up in california
has born an unquenchable thirst for the sky in my throat
and on my powdery tongue
i wait all year for rain
like my cousins across the country wait for christmas;
stick out my tongue to catch acid precipitation like they catch sugary snowfall.
i learned how to love with a dry mouth and
that’s the miracle:
something’s still growing.
Kate is currently attending her second year at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. She has contributed to and works as the layout designer for her university’s literary magazine. When not at school in the Pacific Northwest, she goes home to sunny southern California, where she reunites with the three great loves of her life, including iced matcha lattes, the smell of lemongrass, and chocolate-chip waffles.