…in a curved space, a body can seemingly defy basic physics
and “swim” through a vacuum without needing to push on anything
or be pushed by anything.
………………….–Eduardo Guéron; Scientific American, August 2009
Swimming in Space Time
A short walk from our house
2 minutes tops
the river came through
in a bend at the end of
a short street where
on a small beach
built of slow sand
the river had sloughed
in the shelter of a prominence
upon which a monarch of a
tree stood its four foot trunk
under a green crown
cumulous as the cloud of
dark hair I’d one day wear
I dove down and came up
swimming in space time
in a vacuum when
a bird turned
above my head
and dove too
intent upon a dragonfly
which buzzed through
like the humming bird
with crimson neck
and impossible wings
(as invisible as she
was divine)
swimming in
space time
by Jim Culleny; 7/29/09