Time and Place

At the same time

a comedic street performer

attracts crowds in Covent Garden

using tourists’ children as props;

food delivery drivers

sit on Gerrard cobblestones

playing games on their phones; and

a grandchild learns to walk in Reston.

In the same place

cholera conquered West End

and no one knew why; and

a memorial pub now stands

to honor John Snow

In the same room

Mom died eighteen months ago; and

we now play Phase 10 with Dad,

using a robot to deal cards

I am constrained by place and time,

but in different ways.

I can visit today

where Great-Grandfather,

long-removed,

was burned at the stake

I can be at the place, but not the time

And I can be in the same

small room in the universe

at the same time

with eight billion others,

but only one at one place

in that room

at a time.