My Time Machine Is Broken
I came here from the future
in my trusty time machine.
I flew almost a thousand years
from thirty-seventeen.
I thought it would be fun to see
the far-off distant past.
It never had occurred to me
this trip might be my last.
But now I’m getting worried.
It’s a serious concern.
My time machine has broken down
so now I can’t return.
I traveled too far back in time,
which now I quite regret,
since time machine repair shops
haven’t been invented yet.
— Kenn Nesbitt
Copyright © 2025. All Rights Reserved.
Reading Level: Grade 4
Topics: Science and Technology Poems
Poetic Techniques: Irony, Narrative Poems
Word Count: 89
About This Poem
Most people assume I was born in the twentieth century and grew up like everyone else, going to school, learning poetry, all of that. But the truth is a bit more complicated.
I’m actually from the year 3017.
That’s right… thirty-seventeen. A full millennium in the future. Back home, time travel is fairly common. It’s not something people make a big fuss about, either. It’s more like taking the bus. You can take a weekend trip to ancient Egypt, visit your great-great-great-great-grandparents, or hop forward to see how your favorite TV show eventually ends. Most time travelers don’t stay very long in the past, but I’ve always been curious. I wanted to see what life was like a thousand years ago, so I climbed into my trusty time machine and set the dial for the early 2000s.
Unfortunately, things didn’t go exactly as planned, so I decided to write a poem about it.
By the way, if you like stories about time travel, why not read these ones too?
And if you’re wondering if everything I just said is true or not, you might want to read this one:
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