O:JA&L Poetry: All forms & styles
Samantha Padgett
PORTRAIT OF PARENTING YOUR PARENTS
The stretch of hallway
spanning the length
. of this shotgun
house is a tragedy
rather a metaphor
for the baring of teeth,
. for the spiraling
. telephone chord
. wrapped around
. a neck.
Somewhere in the folds
of forever lives a girl
a Texas summer a
horse stable a cousin
riding bareback in the
pasture shit caked
beneath his fingernails
. a girl watching
the sun setting
of childhood watching
her father beat a rooster
to death with a broom
because he deserved it.
The feathers she helped
him pluck.
. Inside the bird
lives a woman lives
a Texas summer.
Inside the corpse,
tucked behind the rot
and withering hallow
bones sits a shotgun
house. Doors open
wide wind barreling
down the hallway.
. A woman
tucks herself in a
room chokes
. on the summer
heat listens to
the wind whistle.
She wraps the
telephone chord
around her finger.
She holds her
breath.
. She waits
for her daughter
. to call.
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: Deep in the Heart (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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