sometime between 1991 and 1996
a poem for younger readers from my hypertext novel axel-and-alice
original title ‘ten billion past one’
nearly fourteen billion past none
just as I was about to burst
with curious
just as I was about to step
on an anti-personnel mine
and lose my legs in Afghanistan
or somewhere
just as I was about to slot
another token in the Indie 500 game
and thrash Ian’s score
I looked at my watch
and noticed it was almost
ten billion years after the Big Bang
it must be time
to make some planets
a solar system
whatever
in the meantime
galaxies
had condensed
stars
had been born
and grown old
and
died