O:JA&L Poetry: All forms & styles
Samantha Padgett
ARTILLERY OF TEETH
When I dream of my mother
. she’s a girl emerging
from the East Texas pines.
. She’s all somersaults
. and vacation
. bible school. She picks
tomatoes from her father’s
. garden, uses her shirt
. to wipe off the pesticides.
. I dream
. of this mother,
. this loose tooth
. I can wiggle
. with my tongue.
. Of course, there never
. was a dollhouse
. childhood my mother
. always in the thick
. of a tent
. revival, convulsing,
. speaking in tongues.
. So when she tells me
. I’m not special
. for wanting to die,
. I know this isn’t her
. first time
. scrounging
. for nickels and dimes —
. just enough to buy
. a can of diet coke,
. make this whole
. thing worth it.
When I dream of my mother,
. she’s a newborn wailing,
still slick with her mother’s
blood. I can see through her
. skin, follow the tangles
of arteries mazing her body,
. count the artillery of teeth
tucked into her skull. I want
. to hold her in my arms,
but unfortunately
I’m an ambivalent God,
all-knowing, all-powerful,
unable to interfere.
About the writer:
Samantha Padgett holds an MFA in Creative Writing, Publishing, and Editing from Sam Houston State University. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Black Warrior Review, Fourteen Hills, Salt Hill Journal, Pinch, North American Review, and elsewhere. She lives in Austin, Texas, with her partner and their cats.
Image: Fierce Bloom (AI-assisted digital image) by O:JA&L staff creative. 2025. Public domain via Midjourney AI.
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O:JA&L’S BUTTONHOOK PRESS MASTERS SERIES
Click on the titles below to explore or download the free PDF chapbooks in the O:JA&L Masters Series.
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series: Brian Clements on Prose Poetry
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series: Mark Budman on Flash Discourse
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series: Ray Gonzalez on Prose Poetry
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Master Series: Michael Martone on Flash Fiction
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Master Series: Roberta Allen on Flash Fiction
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Master Series: Peter Conners on Flash Fiction
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series: Maxine Chernoff on Prose Poetry
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series: Pedro Ponce on Flash Fiction
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series: Tom Hazuka on Flash Fiction
With an interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series: Kent Dixon on Flash Fiction & Nonfiction
With an interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
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