To celebrate National Poetry Month, we’ll be sharing a poem a week from our archives. The following poem, “Object Permanence” by Luiza Flynn-Goodlett, is from our recent Bay Area Issue. You can read more great work from local poets in the issue itself, which is currently available from our Store.

Yes, the red-tail who swooped across

our windshield didn’t actually vanish

in the gulley, circles still. And when

the alarm wakes you, I trust that soft

nest of curls will be safely conveyed 

to hover at a chalkboard, fall in your

eyes. But the calls keep getting closer.

So straighten your tie, hope we aren’t

followed again and someone hears our

voices before seeing you in the ladies’

room. Maybe this is what mom meant

by, I don’t want your life to be harder.

Driving, you didn’t see that the hawk

veered just in time, so wear it lightly—

an asterisk’s pronged, golden crown.

Luiza Flynn-Goodlett is editor-in-chief of Foglifter Press, and lives in Oakland. Her most recent chapbook is Twice Shy (Nomadic Press). You can find this poem in the Bay Area Issue.