frozen clocks

James Curley

impermanence is permanent
this isn't paradox
it's just so
we can rely on change to happen
tiny increments of change
massive blocks of change
stillness
particle
wave
ebb
ocean
planet
flow
universe
everything in flux
our atoms moving to dissipate
but why does time seem to freeze
when death steals a bag of atoms
that we love
that we cherish?
why do clocks freeze
when time and change are siblings in a universe
where atoms cluster together
and attract one another?

The Science

This poem is concerned with the personal perception of time and change in the context that change is the constant state of the universe and time is a human construct to measure that, and conscious beings experience these things as fluid and personal. The author, affected by the recent death of a loved one, contemplates human loss in the context of change as the universal constant.

The Poet

James Curley is an award-winning songwriter based in Chicago. His songwriting and poetry are informed by his lifelong interests in the intersections between physics, consciousness, human history, evolutionary biology, and personal development in an obviously impersonal universe.

Next poem: Heat Death of the Universe by Alicia Sometimes