Mental Time Machine

can we coexist with our
past and future
selves?

if i kill my past
what effect does it have
on my future?

what effect does it have
on the present?

is the present dependent on
the past?

is the future dependent
on what i decide
right now?

or do they function
independently
parallel paths that never meet?

does the future
determine the past

does the present determine
the future?

looking back can i foresee
the future?

looking forward can i alter
the past?

does the present exist
sandwiched

like salami and provolone
between sliced whole wheat

between what has been and
what is yet to be?

is memory perfect
or does it degrade over time

like small errors in DNA
evolving and mutating?

if only the present exists

why do we invest
so much of our prescience
in what is done and
what may never be?