Then and Now

Before I was born, there was before Trinity

and after. Once there existed before Hiroshima—
Hiroshima existed before—and after,
Nagasaki ever-after. Before

Crossroads, and after, all
roads taken for the taking,
forsaking all others, why
have you forsaken,

unmade the making of before and after
in a burst, a blast, all the way back

to first light? The world heats up
with hushed possibilities.