by Mary E. Lowd
My past and future self
Are an otter on the run
Come from
A spacefaring
Civilization
Spanning across systems
Stretching from one end to another
Of a spinning, spiral, several-armed galaxy
Careful
Or you’ll
Miss a step
Misstep
Fall through a crack
In time
All of a sudden
Exploring an alien planet
Lost in a tunnel
Swirling with fronds and fiddleheads
Blossoms like blots of paint
On a watercolor
Stretch and skew
Time and loops
I forget myself
And find myself back here
But I’d rather be
Back there
So I forget myself
Again