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Suppose Two Clocks
by Jim BenzTo remain here, I assume a curve
along which my body moves, reaching
for sunlight. The day is liquid
hurrying across my path. In the shadows,
beneath my eyes, fixed stars move in a circle.
It isn’t clear what can be understood.
There is no dilemma today, nothing
disappears. The minutes are insensible
of life spans, the hours unconcerned
with decay. Suppose two clocks
of identical construction are placed
on the wind: a moment might be compared
to a juncture that no longer exists,
there is nothing more. I assume this
and imagine two mirrors, so arranged
upon vanished eyes as to reflect
a dilemma: these are the clocks, perfectly situated
at their origins, in view of a structure
of passed days, the relative motion
of fixed stars, absorbed energy, ourselves
wrapped in a delicacy of detail, an unspoken word
filtered from the things that happen
each day. This must be so, this is reasonable:
time clutches nothing. Only now. 12/07/2005 Author's Note: published in Inscribed
Posted on 12/08/2005
Copyright © 2026 Jim Benz
| Member Comments on this Poem |
| Posted by Gregory O'Neill on 12/08/05 at 03:27 AM Jim, I read your poem and am amazed it is still on the page when I look again. Powerfully effective writing! Puts me in mind of Eliot, "time present and time past are both perhaps present in time future, and time future contained in time past." Brilliant. |
| Posted by Laura Doom on 12/08/05 at 08:24 PM The present is present, the past never was and the future never will be. I write this as I chase my tail, to no avail :) I am blinded by your art of writing science... |
| Posted by Steven Kenworthy on 12/12/05 at 04:46 AM the problem with trying to truly dissect time is that it breathes as both life and death. every time a minute passes, we are living & dying simultaneously...so which is it? it then becomes an issue of mentality and that's why i love your piece. it has forced me to think in this way. clocks represent so much more than minutes and hours...i mention them all the time. a fantastically intriguing write. congrats. |
| Posted by Chris Sorrenti on 12/13/05 at 02:08 AM Exhilerating poetics throughout. Wonderfully memorable buildup and finalé. Well done! |
| Posted by George Hoerner on 06/01/08 at 03:06 AM Congratulations on POTD! A very nice write. I used to be an arm chair student of physics and the question of simultaneity was such a big issue for Einstein. The whole study of cosmology has always been an interesting one for me. Well done! |
| Posted by Elizabeth Shaw on 10/19/08 at 05:26 PM awesome |
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