I

They say time is a river
You can never step in twice
In the same place
But I know you can
If you wait long enough
Between steps

If you wait until it’s unrecognizable
Until you step on a dry patch of grass
Crunching underfoot just so
Until you taste the clay the color of dreams
Until you feel the sweat making canyons
In the soil on your forearm
Under the seeping sun
Unfiltered by knowing

I say you can, by being still and listening
To the strangely placid screaming
Of cicadas
Dying away into the night

                II

Among the ghosts I saw
In a strange and fitful mirror

A young man, lean and early,
Sunlight stranded in his hair
Skin the color of baked earth
Heart like pierced leather
Eyes berserk with possibility

I saw myself, long ago