"The Thing About Life" by Alexandra Goodwin
– Two armed police officers escorted me out.
The saving grace of dreams pursued has me sitting under my mango tree.
Alexandra Goodwin is a transplant from Buenos Aires, Argentina, and as such, nourishes her soul like an air plant without apparent roots. As she works toward semi-retirement, she has taken residence in her imaginary tree house above her mango tree in Florida. She’s the author of Exchange at the Border, Whispers of the Soul, What Color is Your Haiku?, and Caleidoscopio. Her essays and poems have appeared or are upcoming in Ariel Chart, The Centifictionist, Loch Raven Review, Stick Figure Poetry Quarterly, The Miami Herald and others. alexandragoodwin.com
Alexandra Goodwin
Author’s Talk
Everybody has a dream. Mine was to be a writer. But life had other plans for me. First, it placed me in Argentina as my place of birth, then it shook me around with life changing experiences, and finally spitted me out on the shores of South Florida.
So, when Wendy A. Miller, a wonderful poet and member of the Light Makers Society where we both belong, told me about the “Twists and Turns” theme for the Personal Story Publishing Project, I realized that the swerving journey of my life could now be shared.
The circumstances under which I came to the United States were traumatic. Perón, the dictator who had been in power from 1946 to 1952 and from 1952 to 1955, came back from an 18-year exile in Spain. His return in 1973 planted chaos and fear in Argentina. His policies opened the floodgates to communist terrorists and life became untenable. When he died in 1974, his wife assumed the power, and things became even worse until the military coup stepped in in a futile attempt to salvage what was left of the abuses of both Peronists and terrorists. In the process, the military government resorted to the same kidnappings, killings, and disappearances that they had come to stop, events people still talk about to this day.
In the midst of this idyllic political atmosphere, I “flunked” my entrance exams to the University twice, which combined with other reasons led our way to the United States. The above story gives a glimpse of how fate, destiny, and luck hold hands in the zig-zagging curvy road called life.—Alexandra Goodwin
