the time travel treehouse takes its final bow

by Claire McNerney

the treehouse is on fire
and there’s nothing we can do,
no time we can go to fix it—
we drank all the water from the permian seas
during the last long drought,
saving ourselves, leaving all of history waterless

and the treehouse is on fire
so we can’t even go back
and pretend it wasn’t the only choice
we ever could have made.

burning boards tumble to the forest floor
and the treehouse glitches out,
making one last trip without us,
going somewhere to die.
we feel an emptiness, half-ghosts—
the skies open into rain
as we wonder what we’re doing here,
in this quiet forest we’ve never been before.

Claire McNerney writes, creates, and performs in her home state of California. Their writing appears in A&N's 'Gargantua' Anthology, Los Suelos, and Cossmass Infinities. She also guest edited the 50th issue of Eye to the Telescope. She enjoys, among other things, the glint of sunlight on the ocean. Follow her on Twitter @claire_mcnerney or Instagram @o.h.c.l.a.i.r.e to say hello and see what she does next!