how one lands

When I was five, my father,
who loved me, ran me over
with a medium-sized farm tractor.

I was lucky though; I tripped
and slipped into a small depression,
which caused the wheels to tread

lightly on my leg, which had already
been broken (when I was three)
by a big dog, who liked to play rough,

and when I was nine, I fell
from the second-floor balcony
onto the cement by the back steps,

and as I went down I saw my life go by
 and thought: “This is exactly how
Wiley Coyote feels, every time!

Luckily, I mostly landed on my feet,
and only had to go on crutches
for a few months in the fifth grade—

and shortly after that, my father,
against his better judgment,
bought the horse I’d wanted for so long. 

All the rest of my luck has to do
with highways and ice—things that
could have happened, but didn’t. "

My Luck by Joyce Sutphen © Red Dragonfly Press, 2010

While waiting for luck and landings to happen, it's lovely to have fresh French pastries and snuggling kitty cats with which/whom to pass the time.