Time Crystal

John Oughton

You, lying around in
your lowest energy-state,
laser-spinning quasi-particle magnons.
This current lattice, non-eternal.

An instant’s spin & you form
a different pattern, one
you had before & will again,
depending on the when.

Unlike that body on a couch:
energy neither taken nor given.
As it alters state, you might
be that cute quantum bundle

you once were, the dispersing
ghost of glitter you will be –
the state of who you are
always a possible condition.

The Science

My poem is based on recent research that reveals the existence of atom-level behaviour that seems to contradict current physics.  Time crystals resemble regular crystals as they are based on atomic structures that repeat. Rather than forming repeating patterns across three dimensions of space, these change in a consistent pattern over time. According to the Washington Post, "Time crystals are the first objects created that spontaneously break 'time-translation symmetry' or the idea that a stable object, such as solids, liquids, gases and plasma, will remain the same throughout time."

The Poet

Born in Guelph, Ontario, John Oughton has lived in Iraq, Japan, and Nova Scotia as well as Toronto. John became Centennial College’s first Professor of Teaching and Learning, and led new faculty orientations for ten years until retiring a few years ago.  His publications include an episode of the DeGrassi Junior High series, over 400 articles, reviews and interviews, and five books of poetry, most recently Time Slip. He has also produced a mystery novel (Death by Triangulation) and in 2021, Higher Teaching: A Handbook for New Postsecondary Faculty. John is a photographer and guitar player.

Next poem: Uranium by Robert René Galván