Luiza Flynn-Goodlett is the author of four chapbooks, including Twice Shy forthcoming from Nomadic Press. In 2018, she was a finalist for both the Prairie Schooner Book Prize and the Berkshire Prize for a First or Second Book of Poetry from Tupelo Press. Her poetry can be found in Third Coast, Pleiades, The Journal, The Common, and elsewhere. She serves as editor-in-chief of Foglifter and lives in sunny Oakland, California.
BORROWED TIME
Since unlatched baby gate tumbled
me down two stories, from loft to tile,
mother sure I hadn't survived. Since
father heard her from the creek where
he was caning chairs, and ran. Since
cracked skull, body cast. Since, nine
months old, I remember none of this.
Since dark wings swept overhead, then
retreated, father says my fontanel's web
of fractures let light in. But I know—
when the other world spread arms to
embrace, I chose this, opened my eyes.