Wrangled
Running up the stairs
twenty pounds overweight
wearing high heels
shoulder bag slipping off my left arm
stack of folders sliding
I trip on the top step
grab at the handrail
miss.
There was never any doubt
a broken ankle would result
but the face plant
and consequent knocked-out tooth
were a surprise to me
and put me over the top
for bad luck on a Thursday. I screamed out
a big long string of curse words
some of them twice
The whole building heard me
which helped a little
but not enough. The ambulance
stopped at the front entrance
It would be nice to know
the driver understands
I just cannot have this vehicle
get into an accident
on the way to the hospital.
One has to draw the line
somewhere
in a quarrel with fate.
1/11/18
Claudia McGill Writes Poetry, Did You Know That? 
Oh my! Did this really happen?
No (thank goodness). I saw a woman at Montco library living out the first 5 lines and I imagined the rest (a vivid picture coming into my mind). The steps there were concrete and in a wide open stairwell in the middle of the building open to view, and very sound carrying. I did knock out my front teeth (in 1966) and I have ridden in an ambulance as a patient (1998) so those parts came from my own experience.
Oh–I’m glad it didn’t actually happen to you (the whole thing).
It is funny what your mind will construct just from one quick image or event. And then what it pulls from memory to add itself to it, and in what way.
Ah yes. That feeling of a bad day that you are sure has the potential to get even worse.