Poetry Reading – “Indicators of the Passing of Time”

Appropriate that today’s archive reading be a piece on the passing of time, perspective, and voice. This piece was originally published back on February 17, 2018, when all of these things were so much different than they are today. The words are very meaningful now, as always, eerie even to read and “hear” as myself now.

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The original piece is below for reference, and can be found in its entirety at https://objectsanddistance.com/2018/02/17/indicators-of-the-passing-of-time/

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Time, it moves quickly
With or without us
Flowing around us like a dam unplugged
I do not know
From where it springs
Or if the deluge
Will ever
Slow
Cease
Wipe us completely from the landscape

I do know
That we have learned
To mark its passing
Its highs
And lows
Arbitrary and naïve as we are
In such efforts

These markers
Differ
By person,
Place
And time
As we change
Daily
Hourly
Momentarily

Do you rely
On alarms
Or clocks
Or light
Streaming softly through shuttered blinds?

I know
That I have been at work for four hours
When I find myself
No longer connected
To the world at large

I know
That the day has begun
When I am roused
By an unseen hand
From a world
I much prefer

I do not know
What time it is now
Or what that even means

Do you know me
Are you here with me know
Or me with you
Simply by reading this
Do you know
That I am sitting
Alone
In a room
Filled with noise
And air
And too much static
Do you feel me
When you read these words
Or do you only know
Yourself

I read these words
As I write them
In a voice
In my head
I want it to be mine
But I will not lie
I do not know whose it is
I do not know
My own voice
From the voice of anyone else
When you read these words
Do you hear them
In “my” voice
In “your” voice
Or is there nothing
But words
Scrolling across your temporal lobe
Swaying to the beat
Mesmerizing
Pulling you in
To a different time
And place
Or are you already moving on
Like me
And bored
These words
Of no comfort
Without meaning
Empty
But there nonetheless