Nanos Valaoritis
Running Backwards
There’s a car on the freeway running backwards
The driver seems to have no difficulty in guiding it
The 4 rear-view mirrors give sufficient visibility
The conversation in the car that’s running backwards
is also rather strange. It runs backwards. The four
People in the car exchange sentences that begin with the end:
Here’s a sample: Night last looked you way the loved I ...
Someone in the back seat reads a book backwards
The watch on his neighbor’s side runs backwards too
They are getting younger and younger. Soon they will
Be kids and then babies and then back to the womb
While their parents take their place in the backrunning
Vehicle . . Time runs backwards and we are inserted
In a mythological past which engulfs everything
The story then runs backwards too and ends where it begins
A MURDER Is committed has been committed will be committed
The future recedes more and more as a continent
The ship is leaving . . Words I have pronounced
Letters I have written are once more in the future
I will meet a person I have already met two years ago
I am rushing towards my older self like a meteorite
Towards the earth. On this earth of my past a car
Is running backwards on the freeway and I am in it.
Page(s) 24
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