Revisionist History and Time Machines (Rev 2.1)

[Achebe]

Hi Todd - an intriguing poem. Much food for thought.

Introducing the character of Claudette earlier does make it clearer that the poem is about thought association.
I'm still having trouble understanding the 'that'  and 'for' in L2 and L3 resp. The 'for' is faintly ugly to my ear as well, for what it's worth.

Three possible interpretations of the 'that', none of which make sense to me, so I am very probably reading it wrong:

Argument: People only tell you they'll go back to kill Hitler, but their telling you is not the reason why elevators etc.
Argument: People only tell you they'll go back to kill Hitler, but killing Hitler is not the reason why elevators etc.
Argument: People only tell you they'll go back to kill Hitler, but Hitler is not the reason why elevators etc.

I'd have thought that the birth of the Antichrist, which is what you're presumably referring to, would be a good reason why elevators no longer skip the thirteenth floor - the old presumably last supper superstition is irrelevant because Christ is irrelevant
Lovely last line.