How I Learned to Time Travel

Yesterday, two different people sent me encouragement to continue writing and making art even if it feels like no one is paying attention and it isn’t having any effect. “Revolution is in paintbrushes, poetry, melody.”

And then I ran a poem idea about handwriting past Kathryn, who is always kind enough to read my drafts, and she intrigued me with the idea that this weird thing I’m experiencing may be tied to my synesthesia.

So. Here’s that one!

How I Learned to Time Travel

Katy Scott
2025

Your handwriting, on all your letters
Is messy and loopy and beautiful
Sometimes in black ink, or my favorite blue fountain pen
Sometimes you spell my name right
Sometimes its “Katie” or “Kate” or “Katyn”
Or just “sweet-heart”

Your handwriting is you, embodied in ink
It lets me see you, hear you, experience you intensely and viscerally
Spreading like heat on the back of my neck
Proust with the madeleines, the unfolding of memories

Your handwriting unlocks an ability in my synaesthetic brain
To travel back in time
To watch the entire process of you writing to me
As if I was actually there
I hear the words in your voice
And see them appear, one by one, under your pen

I watch you while you think about me
In ink on paper
You pause, you smile, you stare at the far wall
Words tumbling over themselves in your head, seeking a pattern
Until they emerge in just the right combination

I watch you while you think about me
An ego trip
I am the most important person in your world

I watch you while you think about me
I need this because some day there will be no more letters
And time travel will be the only way I can be with you

I watch you while you think about me
And I know
For that moment, at least
I was loved