O:JA&L Poetry: All forms & styles
Samantha Padgett
I MISPLACE MY HUMANITY AT THE GROCERY STORE
Click HERE to read the CLOSE READING of this poem.
Click HERE to read the DIAGNOSTIC READING of this poem.
I find myself peeling
stickers off apples storing
them under my tongue
. like the gum I wasn’t
allowed to chew at school.
A lapsed cradle catholic,
. I think about stained
. glass and confessional
. booths and mass
. shootings a lot
I’m not sad. I’m 12,
lined up against a chainlink
fence with the other P.E. girls.
It’s a drill, we whisper,
. except the one girl who
. keeps insisting, They’re lining us
up for execution.
And maybe they are were
. except
. I used to be so good
at texting with my motorola
. I didn’t need my eyes
swear to god I sent paragraphs
from my pocket my thumb
jackhammering the buttons and
. when they did line us up
for execution which is to say
. when they do line us up
at the self-checkout
my apples
will be naked,
. collarless dogs,
and I’ll be dead-
ly quiet
. as the Father blesses my forehead
. with the gun’s panting mouth.
Of course, I’ll accept
this communion —
I’ve been waiting for it.
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: Come to Jesus (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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