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