your front view mirror

i glanced in the rear view a moment too long
found myself off-road heading for a brick wall
i could have panicked but instead
i consulted my trusty
front view mirror
a future bent by the soft mercury curvature
all things appear closer than they are
don’t know why or how but
something shifted, i saw
truth and fiction softly intersect
what is and what could be
and what should be
time and space turn smoothly,
i planned it that way
room to spare
time to document
an era to imagine

you never looked so good
we never looked so good
in your front view mirror
we never saw so much
texture
bricks pocked from the kiln and the weather
the sweat and the heft of the masons
you see the universe in the mortar
etched by time and lime and portland cement
you see dave
his name carved in the wet aggregate
flying to morocco for the summer
tells wild hashish tales
of true love and false imprisonment
drunk on beer and martinis
he’s hard to resist

truth and fiction intersect
scrape on the sleek refracting camber
of the front view mirror
in this one way
your front view mirror is a lot like
your rear view mirror