TACOMA SNAPSHOT
by Samantha Malay
It was probably an ordinary day for us
walking through empty parking lots
ringed with horsetail plants and blackberry thorns
to my grandparents’ house
as late afternoon slipped into evening
the lawn sprinkler-wet
and the cement birdbath dark
against the gold rectangle of the kitchen window
but I see whole summers inside those hours
feet dandelion-sticky on warm linoleum
a spoon from each stripe of Neapolitan ice cream
while water fills the bathtub
unread letters on the diningroom table
the hinge of a screen door
alley dust
Samantha Malay is a graduate of Seattle University’s sociology program, a theatrical wardrobe technician by trade, and a mixed-media artist. Her poem/collage ‘Rimrock Ranch’ was exhibited at Core Gallery in Seattle in January 2017. Her poems have been published in The RavensPerch, Sheila-Na-Gig, Burningword Literary Journal and Sky Island, and will appear in the Summer 2018 issue of The Sea Letter.