What If? A Time Poem

The New Year is off and running! How is time treating you? A better question: how are you treating time?

Here is where I am with it all. I hope you enjoy the poem.

Thank you, Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA Writing for Children and Young Adults program for the weekly poetry prompts that keep me playing. Thank you poet friends for precious feedback and word love.

What If?

 A Time Poem

What if time was not a tool

But a toy,

A trinket, both trivial and treasured?

A spinning top

Of water and fire,

Swirling with gemstones and earth,

Spiraling & dancing

Held by only copper wire,

Each spin granting

Another desire?

They say, “Time is on my mind:”

I say, why the obsession?

When time is just there,

Like air,

For us to share,

Take as much as you want,

Fill your plate,

Pack the bags,

Stuff the trunk,

Take your time,

It’s already yours,

already mine.

I get caught up;

I want so hard

to withstand the test of time —

Why?

Who decides the difference

Between a “Pass” and an “A plus,”

Am I really dying

For a pop quiz?

What if time travel

Was as common as a daily commute?

As routine as a computer reboot?

Where can I find time?

Have you looked under your chair?

There! In the crevice

By the wall,

Wrapped up in a ball

Of spare change and strands of hair:

What if all your time

Was spare?

Every morning,

every week,

every month,

every year,

an endless, infinite string

of gifts,

all of them

I’m ready

to receive.