Chronology

You could tell my story out of order
for dramatic purposes –
end before beginning,
effect before cause,

outcome before anxiety.
Of course, you could do that,
but I can only live this life
in one inexorable order,

my birth to my grand finale,
my hand drifting through tall grass
as I tick off the crossties
on the railroad tracks of my existence.

How could you believe that? she asked me, saying,
My life, my heart has been nothing
but unmoored from time
ever since we met.