out of Time

Naomi Bindman

“The effect of mass is to slow time.”

Before the beginning
Time did not exist.
All matter compressed 
a single point
zero
size, infinite density.
A singularity.

Then from nothingness
lotus opened 
duck dove
Grandmother Turtle dug
creator created
a primal explosion
chaos of atoms 
blasting outward
a thousand million years
until matter congealed
into massive objects
bending 
t
i
m
e.

Gravitational 
Time 
Dilation
giant magnets pulling time filings
into bowed lines
the stronger gravity
the more curvature of spacetime
the slower time goes.

And in between:
S P A C E
no mass
no time

unmeasurable
immeasurable

meaningless
an illusion
like black holes
are not black.
So when the gravitational
pull of matter
collapses inward
the universe contracts
and time flows 
backward.

Here, on our earth, time is a commodity. 
We spend it
share it
waste it
bide it
buy and sell it, 
save and lose time
find time
gain time 
keep time
calculate egocentric time:
Our planet’s rotations 
and orbits around 
Our star
whose brightness we measure in
Solar Units 
one unit equaling the brightness of—
Our sun. 

And when we are no longer
here to count
time will 
end.

The Science

‘out of Time’ is a playful examination of the human attempt to measure– and understand–time. It was inspired by a line from an episode of NOVA: “The effect of mass is to slow time”, and begins with that as an epigraph, then riffs on that idea. All mass exerts gravitational force on other objects, which changes what we perceive as time units*, so the greater the mass/gravitational force, the greater curvature of spacetime, also called Gravitational Time Dilation, as predicted by Einstein's general theory of relativity. 

*The poet gratefully recognizes the input of Dr. Veronica Savu Ph.D.

The Poet

Naomi Bindman is an award-winning educator who lives in Vermont. She earned her BA from Dartmouth College, and her Masters from Harvard University. Her articles, essays, and poetry have appeared in VTDigger, Mothering, So to Speak, Friends Journal, and Import Sky Journal, among others. Naomi has received grants from the Vermont Arts Council, and is on the faculty of the Vermont State Colleges. She has just written her first book, You're the Words I Sing: A Memoir of Song, Sorrow, and Solace.

Next poem: Pluto by Martin Zarrop