Bedtime Story
Tell of polish in a rock tumbler’s heart,
redwood stump encircled by its progeny,
all the tongues of man containing words
of welcome. Say the bed’s undercarriage
is never a nest of furtive figures. Invoke
well-drawn water and quilting circles,
milk teeth, clouds honeyed by sunset.
As another day dissolves on the tongue,
sigh the primal prayer—though cavities
twinge, let us be given another measure.
Luiza Flynn-Goodlett is the author of the chapbooks Congress of Mud (Finishing Line Press) and the forthcoming Unseasonable Weather (dancing girl press). Her work appears in Granta, Indiana Review, Redivider, DIAGRAM, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. She serves as poetry editor for Foglifter Press and can be found at luizaflynngoodlett.com.