Lucky by Kirsten Dierking

MARGINALIA • SKIP TO THE POEM

1.
Has it ever happened to you, on some random morning, while you’re making coffee, or sweeping the floor, or folding your clothes—you suddenly think about what you did so many years ago? My goodness, you think. How could I have said that. Did that. Gone through that.

2.
And then you turn your head to glance at something, and you forget again, you’re here now in the present dialling your sister talking about lunch, you’re opening your fridge to see if there’s still a chocolate bar for dessert. You go back to your desk to work, and then the days pass, weeks, months, and it’s your life, the one you keep, isn’t it.

3.
When my dog was still alive, she does this thing when you call her name. She tilts her head sideways, tongue lolling out, as if listening, as if it’s the first time she’s heard being called, as if she’s surprised she has a name. Then she runs towards me, and it’s my turn to chuckle in delight, half bewildered and half astonished that I am a recipient of such boundless love. As if somewhere in the universe someone has decided, yes. Yes.

4.
Here’s something very few people know about me: I was named so because someone thought I was part of a star.

Lucky
Kirsten Dierking

All this time,
the life you were
supposed to live
has been rising around you
like the walls of a house
designed with warm
harmonious lines.

As if you had actually
planned it that way.

As if you had
stacked up bricks
at random,
and built by mistake
a lucky star.

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This poem appeared in Northern Oracle by Kirsten Dierking, published by Spout Press, 2007. Shared here with profound gratitude.

Read more works by Kirsten Dierking • Find books by this poet • Or view my library 

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