A Book of Time

Tonight the moon hangs
above the horizon like an old hornet’s nest
and I am at the bottom of the sea
in Arizona, waiting
for the tide to come back in.

I keep living my life In reverse,
traveling into the past.

I have made poor choices.
I read the Bible but it didn’t take.
Inspired by whiskey and bad eyesight,
I took a saguaro cactus
as my wife.

Now I am trapped
in this box canyon of old age,
not the Grand Canyon
with its grand library of time
that shifts backwards millions of years
the deeper we go—
our history of river and stone.

Through the gates of experience,
we trade innocence for truth.

When the tide starts
to flood, waves will break
along the shoreline like pages
of a book being turned.