I ... entered the poem of life, whose purpose is ... simply to witness the beauties of the world, to discover the many forms that love can take. (Barabara Blackman in 'Glass After Glass')

These poems are works in progress and may be updated without notice. Nevertheless copyright applies to all writings here and all photos (which are either my own or used with permission). Thank you for your comments. I read and appreciate them all, and reply here to specific points that seem to need it — or as I have the leisure. Otherwise I reciprocate by reading and commenting on your blog posts as much as possible.

5 April 2017

Space-Time

It's when two things coincide, he wrote,
at the same place at the same time. 

Then he said a whole lot of stuff
on the time it takes for information
to pass between different places,
and how the speed of time
depends how fast you move,
and that once upon a time, time
was only local, but earth is small
so it turns out time is universal –
now that we've developed the right
measuring instruments to prove
what any child could tell us....

Or something like that.
He lost me round about the time
he said that Meet me on the corner
at 3 is a space-time coordinate ... o
was it before that, when he mentioned
(casually, as if it was fact)
that time only flows in one direction?

Once again I decide
to skip physics and stick to magic –
really, so much easier and clearer.

However, he did give one demonstration.
In the middle of the page, I could tell,
he'd meant to post a picture.
Something must have gone very wrong
with those coordinates. There was no image,
only a whole lot of space – 
at least at the present time.
(I'm watching now 
to see him back-track, 
and fix it.)


For Day 5 of April Poetry Month, Bjorn at 'imaginary garden with real toads invites us to consider Space-Time and the special theory of relativity. Alas, I'm no Einstein.

22 comments:

  1. Hahaha ❤️ oh Rosemary you're such a sweetheart! I love this!

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  2. This was so fun to read... and I'm sorry to not be clearer...a few things are so easy once you understand it... but when the consequences come you hesitate. Like time moving at different speed.

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    1. Oh, I was exaggerating for effect; don't worry, you weren't that unclear.

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    2. Although I REALLY don't see the picture in your post.

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  3. Oh joy...laugh out loud poetry and snaky magic. Bravo.

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  4. Made me smile Rosemary--and I love your logic here: " Once again I decide/to skip physics and stick to magic.."

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  5. I love this, Rosemary! maybe you need to watch some Brian Cox programmes - he's great at explaining space and time! But the way I see it, science and magic and one and the same thing!

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    1. I watch Brian Cox every chance I get. And I agree that magic and science are the same thing, One of my favourite sayings – my own! – is that magic is just science for which we have not yet found the scientific explanation. I was being very tongue-in-cheek in this poem.

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  6. I found the idea that magic is simpler than science very amusing. Nice angle.

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  7. Rosemary, you wicked wild woman, you! I'm laughing so hard my poor tender stomach can barely handle the jolts. Thank your for that. Some pains are worth enduring. Bwahahaha!

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  8. Love this... You said what I was thinking. I don't do physics. :)

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  9. Thank you for this lark. Is there magic? The science of this proves it.

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  10. ;)
    Love this:
    "I decide
    to skip physics and stick to magic"

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  11. space times i is time
    imagine
    time times i

    And i enjoyed your foray into the depths of physics. <3

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  12. I so love This poem. You understand a lot more than I do.....space-time Continuum? This really made me smile.

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  13. Rosemary, you had me smiling all during my read of your poem. I reiterated a part of what Bjorn wrote with my five verses. I did no deal with the dynamics of length of time, only with the time of arrival. Higher math or Google can factor in speed and determine a proper start time. I.e. I was looking at a static situation.

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  14. Loved and laughed all the way through!

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  15. As long as magic works I'm for it. Sometimes even if it doesn't.

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  16. oh me this is such a fun....you are cool!

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