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
Valley Intrusions
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
six years I lived near a sea-level river
crows looked into my west-facing windows
onions sprouted in the back of a drawer
and springtimes
through doorsill and drainpipe
ants arrived to salvage terrain
hillside now
a few miles north
gulls land on the roof
and in rooms that sigh where floor meets wall
night reveals my siblings as children
chains of paper loops dangle from ceilings
voices echo on swimming pool tiles
tree roots anchor streets we once knew
as a thumb sliver lingers
and the scalp aches when a braid shakes free
October
by Samantha Malay
published in Kind Writers, issue 2
https://www.kindwriters.com/
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
Falter
by Samantha Malay
published in Five South/The Weekly
https://fivesouth.net/malay-falter/
wake from summer’s sleep
to rosehip frost and cold blue skies
shirt cuffs stained with linseed oil
door frame swollen in overnight rain
set aside the forks and spoons
pocket knife
a bar of soap
cardboard box of clothes and towels
sleeping bags and tire chains
touch the stove
and close the curtains
mountain cabin
beyond plow lines
steer around ruts
toward opaque horizon
town for winter again
Shadows
by Samantha Malay
published in Plainsongs, Corpus Callosum Press, winter 2022
https://www.corpuscallosumpress.com/winter2022
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
Interval
by Samantha Malay
published in Poetry South, issue 13
https://www.muw.edu/poetrysouth
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
Compass
by Samantha Malay
published in Poetry South, issue 13
https://www.muw.edu/poetrysouth
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
East Marginal Way
by Samantha Malay
published in Five on the Fifth, volume 7, issue 2
http://www.fiveonthefifth.com/vol-7-issue-2-story-4
reprinted in The Path of Birds: Poets on the Rise (Flying Ketchup Press 2023)
ISBN-13 978-1970151404
salt marsh riverbend
back porches tilt and slope
shoulder bones
in shirts too large
wingspan of Cooper’s hawk
sun slips from windowsills
down Michigan Street
teriyaki
payday loans
hubcaps
and wild dill
songs of siphoned gas
meatloaf stretched with saltine crumbs
tongues still burnt from last night’s soup
Realm
by Samantha Malay
published in Soliloquies Anthology, issue 26.1
https://issuu.com/soliloquiesanthology/docs/combinepdf-3
reprinted in Wild Roof Journal, Issue 32
https://wildroofjournal.com/issue-32-gallery-1/#SamanthaMalay
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
