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71 doesTime reAllY eXisT? it seems to, when i’m late for work. Clocks argue for it ardently. people’s absence— mom, dad, isaac newton, bela lugosi— suggests the vampireTime has had its way.Yet physicist Julian barbour calls time “illusory.” An equation that describes the shape of every possible universe, and the position of everything in each (even the reading glasses i misplaced last night?) is best solved by eliminating time. each instant may be a different universe, like frames in a movie—say, TheTime Machine, which rodTaylor may still be filming somewhere. if that’s true, i’ve never stopped wolfing mom’s pot roast while the Christmas tree shimmers by my new cherry-red bike. romeo’s and Juliet’s nemesis, dawn, still hasn’t touched linda and me, my family visiting in baltimore while i stay home for summer school. of course, i have mumps forever, and have to hear Carol Kamas explain, in perpetuity, how much she loves her ex-boyfriend, who’s back . . . These days, i try to squeeze all the pleasure i can from things like shoving a shopping cart through safeway with no lumbar pain, and only slight congestion in my head. before i leave for work, i peel an orange, and make myself savor every slice. even if time exists, i can freeze-frame by writing, Sweet orange pulp sticks between my teeth. Orange-juice rivers slither down my tongue. ...

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