Emily Kirchner

If there are an infinite number of universes,
then in this moment, I am infinitely grateful
for this one.

Each box in a calendar
is its own universe
parallel parked between potential.
A time square, so much more
than four-sided.

A poem’s verse
is a universe
that rhymes with other realities.

Bookmark this page
where I will vacation,
Swimming in syntax,
alit with alliteration.

I hope my dreams will flow upstream
into past,
present,
and all conceivable currents.

Curiosity killed Schrodinger’s cat,
But I am quantumly quizzical.

In a wayward world, I never learned to read.
In another, I open my fridge each month and say,
“This bottle of ketchup lasted longer than my last relationship.”
In another, I am so uncreative
that all I can make are mistakes.

In one universe, all my possible selves
meet up for coffee
and argue.
Maybe they can merge into a puzzle
made completely of missing pieces.

I won’t stop
until all the women I could be
Are proud.