Daughter
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
Samantha Malay’s poetry was recently published in The Dewdrop and Mantis, and will appear in Issue 15 of Blood Tree Literature. C&R Press long-listed her chapbook Inland for their Summer Tide Pool Award (2024), Steel Toe Books short-listed her chapbook Realm (2023), and Shark Reef Magazine nominated her poem ‘Between’ for a Pushcart Prize (2020). She grew up in rural northeastern Washington State, where her family built a cabin with timbers salvaged from an abandoned homestead, hauled water from a creek, and read by kerosene lamp. Her experiences in that time and place continue to shape her work.