Incunabula

The first room dark as an aquarium:

bark floats behind glass.

The air is cool and loose

Inner bark of trees. Outer

bark: white birch. Papyrus plants

grew thick as a man’s wrist

beside the Nile. Walk through.

Remembering. In the second room,

parchment couples with vellum,

sheepskin, calfskin. Paper made from

flesh. My hands inside. How we

kept the past purposefully dark.

In the third: wood pulp can be

fashioned into a collar, cuspidor,

bonnet, apron, hat.

Pull the paper shirt off, over

your head, seams scratching.

Last glass case: here is a card

composed of small dark windows.

Look into the stereoscope

to see the future:

the light was cool and loose that day.

Our old selves unlocatable,

written and crossed out.