No one needs to invent time travel by Christiana Doucette

First published in The Thieving Magpie No one needs to invent time travelIt’s already here. We’re already traveling.The slam of a door layers then with now.Raised voices split screen brainssend us back to prisms of pain.The moment of terror as the airplane turns just so.Oh, sky that certain clear cold blue, we goback. We are washing dishes heresuds between our fingers. Indoor. But fearplaces us in the car. Plays the announcersvoice crumbling like block towers. Fall.Time travel exists inside us all. Thinning reality.What we need to invent is a way away from time’s debris.A failsafe to replace ache, mistake, heartbreakwith joy. With birds singing clear and sweet, laughterechoing down the street. Ice pops running down chins,grins between grandparents. Transparent momentswhen the sun shone through the clouds. Just. That. Way.Golden molasses dough rolled in sugar. Crinkled cookiescooling on the counter. The need is plain.We just need time travel that isn’t to pain.- Christiana DoucetteMore from Christiana Doucette ↓Her website: Christiana Doucette@doucette515 on BlueSky, Instagram, Threads, and TikTokHer haiku “sudden downpour” appears in Where the Mountains Were: A Helene Disaster Relief Haiku/Senryu Anthology. All the profits go to The Foundation for Lake Lure & Chimney Rock Area Businesses.You can listen to me read Christiana Doucette’s, Lifting Weight, over on Instagram @rembrandts.cure