When Costas Regas bonds with his 90-year-old landlord, Mr. Hieronymus, and discovers that the old man is editing the 20th century, that’s a fairly cool idea on its own, even without the possible smidgen of backward time travel that occurs when Costas writes poetry.
Contained within the poem was a way to close a loop of time, pinch it off, and discard it. I’d broken time.

Variants

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  1. “Of All Possible Worlds” by Jay O’Connell, in Asimov’s Science Fiction, August 2014.
  2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Jay O’Connell