Theories of Time and Space
by Natasha Trethewey You can get there from here, though there's no going home. Everywhere you go will be somewhere you've never been. Try this:head south on Mississippi 49, one- by-one mile markers ticking off another minute of your life. Follow this to its natural conclusion - dead end at the coast, the pier at Gulfport where riggings of shrimp boats are loose stitches in a sky threatening rain. Cross over the man-made beach, 26 miles of sand dumped on a mangrove swamp - buried terrain of the past. Bring only what you must carry - tome of memory its random blank pages. On the dock where you board the boat for Ship Island, someone will take your picture:the photograph - who you were - will be waiting when you return |