Front and Back

What's in back of the paper mountain?
Juniper wanted to know.
He was inside an Easter egg diorama.
I'm not making this up-
I read it in a book when I was 6 years old.

I tore apart my first pop up book looking for the other side.
The ripped beauty made me cry.

Dioramas in museums put me into a trance.
Me big. Everything else small.
Constant cast shadows always for a certain time of day.
The sun is always there.
One moment contained.

I tried to make my own little worlds
with shoeboxes and pipe cleaner people.
Thier shoddiness infuriated me.

I learned to do it in my head.
miniaturized moments with everything stopped in place.
Its how I got myself to sleep at night.

But what's behind the paper mountain?
I thought about that a lot.
In the big real world I became conscious
of storefronts, things without backs.
I peered down alleys between things.
I investigated amusement park and carnival set-ups.
The pirate ship world was a big white tractor trailerbox
with giant wires coming out the back.
Generators rumbled and whined.

I wanted to be assured of the artifice.
I was comforted by the opposite of the intent.