Drawing Dead by E. Samples



If you know the feeling/
Beans and rice again
Government cheese
Two-liter Mountain Lightning

/Leftover in a glass ashtray

If your stomach churns/
Postdated checks
Deferred student loans
Preexisting conditions 

/Tucked behind an ear

If your palm reads/
Generic sneakers
Scratch n’ dent appliances
Christmas on layaway

/Stashed safe in the pack

If you know the taste/
Bootstrap phantasm
Bloodshot vision cut
with your own switch

Smoke half a cigarette

                       /Save the rest for later




E. Samples was born in Huntington, West Virginia, and raised in Mt. Sterling, Kentucky. She currently lives in the sweet corn maze of Southern Indiana. Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in fws: a journal of literature & art, Vamp Cat Mag, Black Bough Poetry, Twist in Time Magazine, The Honest Ulsterman, and The Stillwater Review. 





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