he sweeps crumbs from his lap with the side of his hand the sun a low slant between clouds and trees logging roads dwindle to underbrush and days are marked by insect song nesting mice ferns in wheel wells
photo by Samantha Malay, Long Beach, Washington, 1989
walk slough-side near train tracks through foxglove and brambles as the sun sets on Prairie Market and the phone booth at Dairy Queen freeway ramp and driveway gravel rotting apples lawn chairs back door and kitchen where night comes early to the curtainless window amid ghosts of freight from Black River Junction steamboat wheels tangled in reeds
between mountain shoulders in a field of dry grass where a pile of stones remembers the plow and dishwater pearls on garden dust wave to me from a bend in the road and a chain of unadorned days
photo by Samantha Malay, Seattle, Washington, 2020
on the night path tree trunks are dark torsos twigs snag sleeve flannel and unlace boots lantern-glow limns cabin voices and wood smoke is diminished by rain
photo by Samantha Malay, Seattle, Washington, 2021
I am late June in a hillside apartment windows held open with rain-swollen phonebooks where sparks fly as streets intersect and buses break free of overhead cables
I am sunbeam on beer bottle that starts a grass fire bumblebees in nettle shade
I can give you a haircut sew a button back on show you the shape of the city by night and how close we are to the water
photo by Samantha Malay, Hierve el Agua, Oaxaca, Mexico, 2018
in the still air
of my mother-in-law’s livingroom
I kneel on the rug
to nest dishes in boxes
and I see her
hair sleek as bird-wings
in a sleeveless geometric print dress
hosting parties with these archaic vessels
in officers’ quarters when she lived overseas
lifting a gravy boat amid tablecloth clatter
the rosebud-shaped handle on a sugarbowl lid
as guests carry drinks to smoke on the deck
ashtrays like seashells
in the dim light of storm clouds
where seedpods crackle
and pine branches arch
over an ornamental riverbed of stones
at her kitchen table
now crowded with ghosts
she translates a recipe for cucumber salad
and unfolding lawnchairs
in patio shade
we talk about the cherries
we can see from down here
photo by Samantha Malay, near Mitla ruins, Oaxaca, Mexico, 2018