CCONSERVATION OF ENERGY

In media res leaves everything

out except the sharp stuff...

Chrome and yellow Formica

table with matching chairs,

counter scattered with

breakfast detritus,

roil of bacon and biscuits,

radio talks background news,

the door hung so it swings

shut by itself propped open with

the buttermilk churn.

Sixty years gone

they turn...

Papa smiles,

Mama smiles,

I smile back, just

like yesterday.

Makes me wonder

if that infinitely thin

slice of time with

its ponderous

weight of light,

and smells,

and sounds,

isn’t just as

there now as

it was when

I shot the scene?

Who knows, maybe

time is never lost,

maybe that’s just how

Eternity works.

Reviews

[Lorry]

It's the sharpness of those memories Vol that get us every time. No high definition back in the far far away but they play like Lucasfilms was involved in the editing, with crystal clear picture quality and even with the essence of smell thrown in for good measure too.
I can still smell those cookies, Banana loaves and cherry slices as the memory replays of the moment it was time to open the oven, which we knew instantly by the smell wafting through the house and we would wait impatiently for the few minutes to cool that felt like at least half a forever to pass, before we could taste what deliciousness tasted like.
Those memories are golden and never fade.

[Vol]

Lorry,
Well, hello, stranger! Whew! finally!
As to memories... I can remember the things that happened... And when looking back, I us my movie editor to make them all more pleasant I am sure... I was SO witty! I was SO handsome, I was SUCH a Hippie! You name it, I was a champion!
They are MY memories... I do with them as I please!
Vol

[Lorry]

Exactly Vol. And as the memory grows roots in our mind palace, it matters not a lot if there were witnesses to deny it and say we were bumbling fools, it is how each memory becomes more on each telling. I mean, im sure there'd be one or two people around to tell it different, but as you said, they are your memories, in your head and you can do whatever the flip you want with them dagnabbit! 😃

[Vol]

You know Lorry what's really crazy is some of the quantum people say the past is as indeterminate as the future... If they could see how I romanticize my memories, they would know for sure.
Vol

[Michael Sun Bear]

Very nice Vol. I love the opening stanza, giving us a look into the ordinary yet beautiful details of your morning. I don’t think time is lost, I am told it is all there, preserved somewhere in the infinity of creation.

[Vol]

I wonder if our consciousness is responsible for the passage of time... In non linear time, everything happens at once... happens to me all the time...

[Ms claws]

Beautiful. Just Beautiful.

[Vol]

IH,
There is so much of that time that is my current reality, that it must be real... time is a funky mistress...

[Ms claws]

I'm reminded of a conversation with a gentleman who wondered if Eternity would be worth the pre-destined fate of "everything is glorious". I wonder, How would you feel knowing there is no meat for your most delicious delights?

[Vol]

The concept of eternity is meaningless if there is no such thing as linear time... doncha think?

[Ms claws]

Vol, I asked AI to define "linear time" and although my perspective is not so sharp, I think it means having a goal. As in "To reach the unreachable Star." My goal is always before me, my Star. However, my "stew" is meaningless without "meat". Thanks so much for commenting.

[Ms claws]

Vol, is the photo a picture of your parents? I see you in BOTH of them!

[Vol]

Not sure what picture you are referring to...
non linear time is an oxymoron. Time defines a passage of events...If time does not exist it would imply that time only refers to physical existence... to exist in Nonlinear time would be to exist as a purely spiritual being and we do not have the mental ability to even imagine what that might be like...

[Ms claws]

The photo beside the title to your poem CCONSERVATION OF ENERGY is of an elderly couple.
I think you have revealed the answer! We will be in spiritual form! Like God! That's always been the goal, even of Lucifer! You are exceptional! A teacher, I see your bio! Thanks for the talk.

[Vol]

Oh...Nope those are my paternal grandparents... they made Paul Harvey's "World champion lovers" twice married 77 years... Probably the most important people in my life.

[Ms claws]

Oh my! Married 77 years!
Paul Harvey? Oh nevermind! I'll worry about that tomorrow!

[Vol]

Google him... He was an American Icon in the sixties and seventies...

[Ms claws]

Vol, I do know who Paul Harvey was. My grandparents never missed his droning on and on. I wasn't there but I've heard my elders talk about him.
I watched an old movie, and thought you might catch my impression of Scarlett...but, oh well.

[emmajoygreen]

Memories are their own eternity, Vol. Without them our lives would be finished before they began. Dare there be a way when someone disagrees with that?

'Who knows, maybe
time is never lost,
maybe that’s just how
Eternity works.'

[Vol]

Joy,
I know. For me the best part of memory is its malleability. The instant described had nothing in it except time and place, no one said anything important, no dish crashed to the floor, there was nothing to distinguish it from any other, except a photograph. And the images in that picture are indelibly entangled with who I am, connected to every element, their blood in my veins... I think maybe you are right, as usual, Memories are eternity.
Vol