1492

by Gary Every

The thing with time travel

is you can never take the machine with you

so you are stuck wherever you end up.

Time travel never caught on as a tourist industry,

instead it became the habitat

of fringe political activists

such as the new age vegetarian yoga guru

who chose to return to 1492

coming back to Sedona Arizona,

before there was a Sedona

before there was an Arizona.

The thing was this crystal worshipping kokapellian

had a long ways to go

to get where he needed to be

before the calendar year reached October 1492.

He and his Birkenstocks intended to cross the continent

jump off the coast

and find a way to the island of Hispanola

before it was called Hispanola.

He intended to be a one man navy

securing the homeland

by sinking three little ships

the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria.

Just sink three little ships

and change the course of history

ending centuries of genocide.

Of course there is always the question

what sort of monstrosity

the bloodthirsty Aztec empire might have become

if left unchecked

but we will never know because in February 1492

somewhere around New Mexico

before there was a New Mexico

or even an Old Mexico

this holistic time travelling hippy

was captured by the Apache

and eaten.