Almanac
published in The Closed Eye Open – Maya’s Micros, batch 92
https://theclosedeyeopen.com/mayas-micros-ed-35/


you spoke of luck
as we planted seeds            
after danger of frost had passed                           

searched the sky                                          
for signs of rain                                           
a map unfolded on dashboard dust          

hid summer hunger                                    
in night’s close curves                                
and the understory of tamarack trees

Night Index
published in Blood Tree Literature, Issue 15: Legacy Print
https://www.bloodtreeliterature.com/


in sleep I spoke two languages
unhindered by habit or alphabet

and traced a line of uneasy kin
through snow-bent grasses
unfinished sentences
mismatched shoes
and other shores

to an afternoon lost
between small towns
a wool coat buttoned with a roofing nail
pockets stuffed with onion skins

Daughter
published in The Passionfruit Review, ‘Here and Now’ issue
https://passionfruitreview.com/daughter-by-samantha-malay/


in a cardboard box
with paperback books
wallet-size school photos
a light brown corduroy skirt
Lotus Blossom perfume vial
dry leaves
and horse chestnuts

between church basement coffee cups
and other crossroads promises

I found my rollerskates
long strands of dark hair caught in one wheel

Harvest     
reprinted in The Dewdrop 
https://thedewdrop.org/2024/11/17/samantha-malay-harvest/

back out of the driveway
windows rolled down
a map of each room in your mind
we are equal parts empty and full
together and alone
the space between the beads and the string

open the envelope 
it holds more than words
seeds unsuited to our season of drought
promises of peaches and plums 
from branches grafted to a single trunk

keep your horse from the quarry ridge
eat peas from dried vines 
crouch in the shallows with creekwater mint
you are rootless and lucky for now

first published in Sheila-Na-Gig, volume 3.2, Winter 2018

Three Summers                                                                                                  
WILDsound Writing Festival
https://festivalforpoetry.com/2024/09/24/grief-poem-three-summers-by-samantha-malay/


wind lifts a tarp from a half-wrecked car
floats cottonwood seeds to my neighbor’s pool
once host to dangling feet
beer bottle clink
and barbecue smoke

on a narrow stretch of the continent
birds flew from cactus nests
to an empty beach
I peeled a mango in the bathroom sink
slept to the sounds of a ceiling fan

in a dream I searched a road through the woods
for a dog that had jumped from the back of a truck
I saw the papery husk of a garter snake
my ankles snared in baling twine
parts of myself long extinct

Equinox
published in Mantis 22
https://mantis.stanford.edu/


this morning I put clean sheets on the bed
and remembered it was still summer last week

I didn’t pick blackberries
or wade in the lake
like I said I would

but I rationed a bag of plums
from my brother’s tree
buried a bird I found on the park path
watched the sun move across the kitchen wall
as I washed dishes
on my days off

Rue
by Samantha Malay
published in Heading In and Out: Transient Life Poems (Poets’ Choice 2024)
https://poetschoice.in/product/heading-in-and-out/


put your arms in the sleeves
of the shirt with pearl snaps
pull your belt through the loop
we are already late

forget most of the words
we said to each other
the separate steps that became a dance
vapors chasing an ignition source

the sound of the ocean
will be lost after breakfast
bird-wings obscured by grocery lists

and when I learn to fold laundry in my sleep
I’ll remember I parked near the carwash today
I’ll dream you were crowned with branches like antlers
my thoughts desk drawers full of sand

Homeward
by Samantha Malay
published in Heading In and Out: Transient Life Poems (Poets’ Choice 2024)
https://poetschoice.in/product/heading-in-and-out/


we waited
ground-down and hungry
in uneven numbers
for a chance to build camp in afternoon light
tie twine between trees to dry socks and last letters
and sleep

Home Movie
by Samantha Malay
published in The Path of Birds: Poets on the Rise (Flying Ketchup Press 2023)
ISBN-13 978-1970151404
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1970151404

 

barefoot
she steps
from palm frond shadows
to ocean waves

empties coffeepot
on campground grass
swats at the camera
with an old kitchen towel

a thousand miles north
his freckled arms
gather dry alfalfa
and their children search for eggs
in the chicken coop

Husk
by Samantha Malay
published in The Path of Birds: Poets on the Rise (Flying Ketchup Press 2023)
ISBN-13 978-1970151404
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1970151404


songs of peach pits
and sunburnt necks
bare legs stuck to plastic slats
dandelion roots in wilted piles

fork tine on placemat stain
decisions made in other rooms
shower drain hair knots
and half-sleep

brother and sister
sort the soft fruit
dream of new jeans
beach dusk
wing windows open to cigarette smoke
and unmarked departures
from debris fields
of family life