Time gets tired of being time,
blocks the escalator exit,
lets the hours
pile and jam.

A lake freezes and flows,
a hurricane and a clear day
share the same sky,

And I have been in this CVS
buying a bottle of bleach,
listening to “Ain’t No Sunshine”—
I know, I know, I know—
for seventeen years.

Around me is panic,
but I am calm.
The geologic clock has come.

I say yes and the earth
splits easy
like a freestone peach.
The rift does not mind
when I climb down,
when I come with my questions.
I know, I know, I know,
I call into the canyon,
I know, I know, I know,
the sediments respond.