Everything is written over something else. Here are palimpsests all around us:
Modern city street grid
written over medieval footpaths
written over Roman roads
written over animal trails
Your favorite song's melody
written over earlier drafts
written over half-remembered tunes
written over the first song anyone ever hummed
Today's newspaper front page
printed over yesterday's news
folded into tomorrow's recycling
returning to pulp, to paper, to news again
Your name
chosen over other names considered
descended from ancestral names
echoing names now forgotten
The words you just read
revised from earlier drafts
shaped by everything I've ever read
shadows of all the words I didn't choose
Tonight's dinner recipe
adapted from a cookbook
adapted from a grandmother's memory
adapted from necessity and chance
The building where you live
built over a demolished structure
built over farmland
built over forest floor