Look Alive

by Luiza Flynn-Goodlett

Look Alive documents the construction of a queer femme self in the hostile territory of American late capitalism. Its speaker encounters darkness—in the form of violence perpetrated by both individuals and by societal systems of power and oppression—and yet, rejects the narratives articulated by that violence, celebrating instead softness and gentleness, and ultimately, cleaving to the natural world in all its radiant, mysterious queerness.

Genres: Poetry, Queer

60 pages, Paperback

Published March 1, 2021

About the author

Luiza Flynn-Goodlett is the author of Mud in Our Mouths (Northwestern University Press) and Look Alive (winner of the 2019 Cowles Poetry Book Prize from Southeast Missouri State University Press), along with numerous chapbooks, most recently Familiar (Madhouse Press, 2024). Her poetry can be found in Fugue, Poetry Northwest, Third Coast, and elsewhere. She serves as a poetry editor for the Whiting Award–winning LGBTQIA2S+ literary journal and press Foglifter.

Reviews

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The answer to every one of these questions is a resounding Hell Yes.

Is luiza a master of the line break?
Have I loved some of these poems since they were in journals?
Does luiza surprise?
Does luiza make you think, “yep. If I could really write this is what it would look like”?
Should you read this?
Did I read this cover to cover the day it landed on my doorstep?