by Siri Paulson
in that other timeline
the one that made some kind of narrative sense
the one we could all agree was real
we got our dual shots and it was over
a year and a half after it began
the world resumed better than before
because we learned
what the universe wanted
us to know
in the timeline that existed
in a just world
the vaccines came first
to the most vulnerable
countries, neighbourhoods,
individuals who could least afford
the high price of getting sick
and inequities were levelled out
instead of being piled higher
in the timeline that never went sideways
the one that even now
we can’t believe we won’t see again
we still breathed on each other
and moved in crowds without
a second thought
we never knew the fear that burrowed
into the bronchioles of our lungs
the invisible six-foot spheres
that followed us everywhere
so what then do we call this timeline
we’re stuck in now
a Groundhog Day of wave after wave
a sea that threatens to take our breath?
if we can’t undo the last two years
if we can’t step sideways and disappear
into another part of the multiverse
where will we go from here?
what is the after
and how will we know
when we’ve reached it?