City Against Time

Where do you go in a city against time?
A city struggling for or against, as if time were a choice

Abandoned buildings of memories past and future decaying in concentric circles
Concentric circles segmented by lines like bicycle spokes
Be-fore Be-after Be-fore Be-after

Touch them and they spin faster and faster until they lose their straightness, lose
direction bending sideways, up, down, who knows?

Be-fore Be-after Be-fore Be-after

Lives in constant multiplication, concurrent spaces, contemporary layers of fact and
fiction

Be-fore Be-after and sometimes, but not often, Now

Touch the scattered debris and it swirls kaleidoscopic and confusing
The patterns blur into muddy pliability

The city is dense, layered, littered with broken dreams, new promises, desires to live
or die, and losing its directness bending sideways, up, down, multiples of multiples,
lives of memories, concentric circles of choice for or against

And sometimes, not often, Now

© Mary Lou Newmark 2011