No one needs to invent time travel by Christiana Doucette
One Poem Only · Maggie Devers
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Show Notes
First published in The Thieving Magpie
No one needs to invent time travel
It’s already here. We’re already traveling.
The slam of a door layers then with now.
Raised voices split screen brains
send us back to prisms of pain.
The moment of terror as the airplane turns just so.
Oh, sky that certain clear cold blue, we go
back. We are washing dishes here
suds between our fingers. Indoor. But fear
places us in the car. Plays the announcers
voice crumbling like block towers. Fall.
Time travel exists inside us all. Thinning reality.
What we need to invent is a way away from time’s debris.
A failsafe to replace ache, mistake, heartbreak
with joy. With birds singing clear and sweet, laughter
echoing down the street. Ice pops running down chins,
grins between grandparents. Transparent moments
when the sun shone through the clouds. Just. That. Way.
Golden molasses dough rolled in sugar. Crinkled cookies
cooling on the counter. The need is plain.
We just need time travel that isn’t to pain.
- Christiana Doucette
More from Christiana Doucette ↓
- Her website: Christiana Doucette
- @doucette515 on BlueSky, Instagram, Threads, and TikTok
- Her haiku “sudden downpour” appears in Where the Mountains Were: A Helene Disaster Relief Haiku/Senryu Anthology. All the profits go to The Foundation for Lake Lure & Chimney Rock Area Businesses.
You can listen to me read Christiana Doucette’s, Lifting Weight, over on Instagram @rembrandts.cure
Mentioned in this episode:
Write After: National Poetry Month with One Poem Only
Write After is a way to encourage poets to listen and write, and use National Poetry Month to highlight how listening to poetry makes us better poets. I know I write the best when I’m surrounded by beautiful poetry–it’s part of the reason I created this podcast, and I want to encourage others to share this practice. We'll get started in April. You can share to #WriteAfterOPO.