Theories of Time and Space by Natasha Trethewey

Theories of Time and Space

 

You can get there from here, though

there’s no going home.

 

Everywhere you go will be somewhere

you’ve never been. Try this:

 

head south on Mississippi 49, one—

by—one mile markers ticking off

 

another minute of your life. Follow this

to its natural conclusion—dead end

 

at the coast, the pier at Gulfport where

riggings of shrimp boats are loose stitches

 

in a sky threatening rain. Cross over

the man-made beach, 26 miles of sand

 

dumped on a mangrove swamp—buried

terrain of the past. Bring only

 

what you must carry—tome of memory

its random blank pages. On the dock

 

where you board the boat for Ship Island,

someone will take your picture:

 

the photograph—who you were—

will be waiting when you return