Past Perfect
by Christina Olson

Already what I knew to be true
is all tenses: has changed, is changing,
will change. No more planet
Pluto. Welcome Nunavut.
I heard the Spanish alphabet dumped
the long lazy roll of the doble ele,
and though I've since been corrected,
I liked it better when I thought it retired
to mango plantations, blue parrots screaming
overhead. Pretty soon farewell to polar bears
and the very last card catalog
and my parents — and haven't you too
wondered of your friends who will go first,
and will it be anything like The Big Chill
and if yes, which one of you gets
to be Kevin Kline in tiny gray shorts?