about the author

Samantha Duncan is the author of four poetry chapbooks, including Playing One on TV (Hyacinth Girl Press, 2017) and The Birth Creatures (Agape Editions, 2016), and her fiction has appeared in Meridian, The Pinch, The Conium Review, and Flapperhouse. She previously served as Executive Editor for ELJ Editions and has read for several issues of Gigantic Sequins. She blogs occasionally at planesflyinglowoverhead.blogspot.com and lives in Houston.


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Samantha Duncan



My lipstick scares the story time crowd.

Babies flee under the parachute. To be honest,

I want to leave my blackened mouth print

on their dimpled legs. Bulbous eyes light the room

just from staring at me, and I’m reminded

I’ve been hungry for days. I go home and stare

at all the gaps, Lysol and duct tape the noise

when necessary, reapply throughout the day.

More than a flutter is the loneliness of a job

half the planet is also doing this very second,

like the cold intimacy of afternoon coffee.

Four out of five infants agree

pureed squash tastes better when strained

through my black lace leggings, so I reapply

and flip the switch, conveyor belt, on.





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