I could just as well have made a time capsule, but 80 percent of those are lost to the ground, never to see the light of day, and sometimes there are leaks. A time capsule is just a tiny, overcrowded basement, or like a rock whose fissures, filled over time by minerals from flowing water, now host veins of crystal. Inscribed for a seeker at a later date: The future, like an invasive plant, has contaminated the here-and-now, contaminated eternity. The past is just a predecessor. And so here are some knickknacks, to make up for the millisecond that is the present. The present: cat-like with quick reflexes, you have to wait for it to come to you. These images don’t indicate any midpoint of history, they don’t imply that these were important times, but we have a habit of seeing the meaning in a sign. The mirror has to be opposite nature to reflect it. The time traveler’s compass is regret; I cannot choose where to go otherwise.