'They begin in the cities, unstacking skyscraper
stories, removing roof and penthouse and metal
skeleton, and laying down dirt and smooth grass.
Next, the freeways retracting, a pencil turning
the spool of a cassette to call shiny brown tape
back into its case, dark tinsel retreating, taking
the lights and power lines with it. The backwards
explorers work tirelessly, from sundown to sunup.
We will never see the moon again, or see the Earth
from space. Astronauts scurry into their childhoods.
The charge of the backwards explorers: to leave
what we have found more beautiful than when
we found it. Railroad tracks popping off, loosening
and rising like braces stripped from teeth. No West,
young man, no covered wagons, no bridges
across the Mississippi. Everywhere hands have
been slapped away, the backwards explorers
have touched. Shoo, plantation owners, shoo,
frontiersmen, shoo, settlers and colonizers.
Disband the towns, put the trees back up,
fresh hills and woods. Chase the lousy
conquistadors from the villages, back toward
the water, their ships. Up come the anchors, up go
the sails, all they shall know is the thirst for home.'
The Backwards Explorers
inspired by Cody Rocko's artworks
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