Tomorrow in Tonga
The illuminated clock winked and went dark
the taut electrical buzz clicked and went silent
is it nuclear war, a polar shift or just a branch on a power line?
In murky dusk I contemplate my pale reflection in the mirror
I put on a blue shirt, red tie and gray slacks
I feed the cat
Across the icy black vacuum of heaven
Cassiopeia and Orion play ring around the rosy
with the moon
In Chicago it's an hour earlier, six hours later in Paris
still yesterday in Samoa
already tomorrow in Tonga
What would you do today if you knew your time was up tomorrow?
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Author's Note
Reflections on time, space and eternity
Other stories by Michael Gillan Maxwell
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Nice work, Michael!*
Especially like the use of temporal relativity in this.
Musical, jazzy even. Nice.
I often feel ephemeral. Even more so, now. Really like how you give voice to that feeling.*
This "simple" poem, like a day's unfolding, is temporal, and possibly deceiving, as any surprise might be. That our existence could be so, well, relative, and we'd wait until "the bitter end" (How's that for cliche?!!) to ponder any possibility of change(s), is so perfectly wrought here.
*
A gem of a poem here, Michael. A question I've occasionally tried to explore in my writing, as well. You do fine with it here.
What Robert said. Great poem. *
Love the stillness and the mood of this, and especially the "pale reflection". Sometimes I feel just a couple of shades away from disappearing and I like the calm contemplation of that.
Verse 3 is the centerpiece indeed. Great imagery. *
"already tomorrow in Tonga"
Great!
There is just the right touch to just the right questions in this playful but haunting story. ***
Any poem with Cassiopeia and Orion in it has me riveted. The ending of this one clinches it, though. *