1
After months apart, my friend invites me to meet her at a tourist spot in the town where we both used to live. We sit at a table in the sun, behind a mariachi band, and speak rapidly, as if trying to “catch up.” She says that what scientists are learning about time suggests it may be possible to see into the future. I agree by mangling quotes from Gödel and Hawking. “If the entire universe is spinning—and why not?—time may be circular.” We interrupt each other frequently, as if excited, though, in fact, we have had this conversation several times before.
2
Harsh words come to mind,
“burst in uninvited.”
They may refer to me,
but I speak them aloud
to myself, by myself,
which makes them less convincing.
3
“There are really only two
ideas.”
A) We can be represented,
someone can take our place or suffer
in our stead.
B) This has happened already, in the distant past,
and all we need do is recall it.
