I DON'T OWN A WATCH

If there is such a thing as

time, I have often thought

it must be like a book,

every page an infinitely thin

slice of eternity, static, whole,

and a sparkling whirl of

light and beauty.

I can’t read what is written,

there, because the sparkling

whirl of me gets lost in the

perfect order of its static flow.

I can feel myself diminished,

as my essence expands forever.

Reviews

[Lorry]

Time, a man made construct to denote its passing.... Sounds like someone was having a slow day at the office and decided to measure more of our being into smaller and smaller seconds, to no doubt benefit our efficiency threshold parameters are some such office speak.
I gave up wearing a watch ages ago, but it's never that far away, is it?
It's on the pocket computer that is my phone, displayed in large print bold, just in case it's ever out of reach.... Its in the radio announcers mouth every couple of minutes, just in case we get distracted and forget we are in constant motion, while we sit in gridlock, listening to a way too cheery moron tell us how bad things are, in a cheery voice.
Then we get to work and clock in and watch it slow to a treacle like crawl, until the weekend comes and everything speeds up again until we get to the here and now of four ayem on a Monday morning again and I reckon I'll have to forego my usual delivery method of liquid caffeine and just freebase it to get me moving at anything more than a glacial crawl.
Time waits for no man Vol, but if you see it, tell it I'm out! 😊

[Vol]

Lorry,
There is such a large amount of what we call time out there in the past and coexistent future that there is no way to make sense of it all... so, in this infinitely thin now, I think I will savor the delicious, complex, flavors of this hot, supreme pizza with that crispy crust... But only because Lisa is busy doing something else.
Vol

[Ken Simm.]

There is a saying here in Argyll on the western coast of Scotland. 'Why have a watch when a calander will do'. And they do live by that rule.
This temporal flowing write reminded me of that.

[Vol]

Ken,
Thanks... I often wonder how it would look if we could translate the various, cultural concepts of time into English...
Vol

[Ken Simm.]

Aye see you thats a braw thought, so it is, by the way, just now.. Thats in Scots.

[Ken Simm.]

Not scotch, thats a drink.

[Vol]

Sir Ken, the "now" of which you speak is history...

[Ken Simm.]

Depends where you are in this miserable world.

[John Alexander McFadyen]

There appears to be an internal struggle between the pages of that book and the reader as the protagonist really does not want to read the book in case it has an ending perhaps. The final line feels like defiance of the inevitability of dying? I like this form of poetry as it is readable, relatable and thought provoking.

[Vol]

John,
Thank you... Time stops for no one... and we are not allowed to read ahead...
Vol

[Ayvid N]

A beautiful poem that tells me that time is a magnificent entity and yet we are even better because we cannot be limited or contained by time. Beautifully envisioned, Vol.

[Vol]

Divya,
I have been fascinated by time for as long as I can remember. I recently read a quantum article that says the past is as indeterminate as the future. Not to mention that time Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, before Abraham was, I am."
Vol

[Ken e Bujold]

comparison of time and pages of a great book, or should I say the Great Book, is such a time-stopping metaphor.

ken

[Vol]

Ken,
Time is a weird concept. The Bible messes with it... "“Before I formed you in the womb I Knew you." or "I tell you ther truth, Before Abraham was, I am." Or the article I read a few weeks ago that said according to quantum physics, the past is as indeterminate as the future.
The page I am conscious in right now, is independent of the page I was on fifty years ago, but both are there concurrently. So on the last page, when I "die" there is still a first day.
Vol

Bible Gateway
https://www.biblegateway.com › passage › version=NIV
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you

[jacob erin-cilberto]

I don't own a watch either.
Time is passing too quickly...not thinking about it slows it down a bit.
Nice use of "miasma"---

[Vol]

Jacob,
I know, right? The first year I taught at the school where I later retired was 1993. A couple of years before I left for good in 2011, one of my kids posted a picture of her first grandkid... shaking my head.
Vol

[Kelly Scheppers]

Interesting piece, Vol. The word "miasma" gave me cause to pause, for I've never heard it. That alone expands my vocab, allowing me to dip my big toe in the deep end of my thesaurus. I love it. Thank you my friend!

[Vol]

Kelly,
I am admitting this to you only. I thought "miasma" means gaseous, swirling particles... you, milady made me curious, so I just now looked it up myself.. it adds "stinky" to my idea. So now I have a little bit of editing to do...
Vol