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Opportunity Cost
Johnson recounts what it means to live after assault and navigate once-safe spaces now haunted by pain. The speaker talks to old friends, wakes from troubling dreams, has physically intimate moments, even watches television. Yet none of these moments are free from the haunting presence of trauma. With shifting yet repetitive form, sharp imagery, and mesmerizing vulnerability, Opportunity Cost seeks not to be healed, but to be heard.
- GenresPoetry
20 pages, ebook
Published January 1, 2022
8 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 14, 2022
I feared writing a review because I wasn't sure if I would be able to put down into words how much this book has moved me. I can only hope what I say will express the extent of how much these poems have left me feeling.
I remember reading 'To My Assailant's Sister' and having to close down my laptop, the books on my desk, my phone, everything. I just wanted to sit in silence and I did. The lines
'Before you pull away the small boy stretches
his handprint into your skin,
touching me at the waist.
I flinch.'
stays with me, it haunts me and my chest feels tight everytime I remember it. This has to be one of my most favourite poems I've ever read.
There are 5 poems in this book titled: 'To My Assailant's Wife'. They have the same titles and yet, each are unique and repetitive in the best way. These recurring titles with their strikethrough poems are so painful to read.
'It Happened Once In A Dream' from this book is such a wonderful poem. The theme of the poem, the diction, the structure and form, everything about it is perfect. I am amazed and think it's such an intelligent poem that uses form and structure to the best ability.
Opportunity Cost was not one of the books I read and then moved on to pick another book. I felt like sitting with it for a few days and read, re-read, annotate lines and then rethinking the idea of annotating because God every line I'd have to mark. I've read these poems, I've reread them and sometimes, I couldn't help but whisper these words out aloud.
I remember reading 'To My Assailant's Sister' and having to close down my laptop, the books on my desk, my phone, everything. I just wanted to sit in silence and I did. The lines
'Before you pull away the small boy stretches
his handprint into your skin,
touching me at the waist.
I flinch.'
stays with me, it haunts me and my chest feels tight everytime I remember it. This has to be one of my most favourite poems I've ever read.
There are 5 poems in this book titled: 'To My Assailant's Wife'. They have the same titles and yet, each are unique and repetitive in the best way. These recurring titles with their strikethrough poems are so painful to read.
'It Happened Once In A Dream' from this book is such a wonderful poem. The theme of the poem, the diction, the structure and form, everything about it is perfect. I am amazed and think it's such an intelligent poem that uses form and structure to the best ability.
Opportunity Cost was not one of the books I read and then moved on to pick another book. I felt like sitting with it for a few days and read, re-read, annotate lines and then rethinking the idea of annotating because God every line I'd have to mark. I've read these poems, I've reread them and sometimes, I couldn't help but whisper these words out aloud.
June 4, 2022
Opportunity Cost marries bravery to beauty in a rare way. I don’t have the technical knowledge to understand all the mechanical complexities of these poems, but anyone should be able to appreciate the honesty and courage it takes to confront trauma on every page.
They move toward self-acceptance without offering absolution for abuse. They display healing while recognizing the depth and rawness of scars that will never heal. They pull back the curtain on experiences that are horrifically common but rarely acknowledged. They hint at a life and a world that could’ve existed but was snatched away because of someone else’s choice.
I suspect that Abby Johnson’s vulnerability will help others speak the truth about their own traumas, as well. Whether or not you typically read poetry, this is an important book.
They move toward self-acceptance without offering absolution for abuse. They display healing while recognizing the depth and rawness of scars that will never heal. They pull back the curtain on experiences that are horrifically common but rarely acknowledged. They hint at a life and a world that could’ve existed but was snatched away because of someone else’s choice.
I suspect that Abby Johnson’s vulnerability will help others speak the truth about their own traumas, as well. Whether or not you typically read poetry, this is an important book.
December 14, 2025
A stunning collection. Every inch of every page feels purposeful and weighted.
To My Assailant’s Wife, the set of poems with a shared title that weave their way through the collection were particularly powerful.
To My Assailant’s Wife, the set of poems with a shared title that weave their way through the collection were particularly powerful.
September 21, 2022
This book was beautiful and painful and memorable and truthful. The words and the feelings attached to them will stick in your brain long after the last page.
October 16, 2024
sharp, direct, strong poetry a must read
January 24, 2025
A stunning and courageous chapbook.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews