found poem

3.3077 minutes ahead

Author's Notes/Comments: 

This poem will be featured in my upcoming poetry book titled "Lost in Cyberspace and other found poems" You can read the book - as I write it! - at http://lostincyberspacepoems.blogspot.com

This is a found poem from portions of one of my favourite science fiction short stories. "Man in his time" has been haunting me since the first time I read it. It is the story of a man who - due to a mishap during his space expedition - crashes back to earth only to discover that he is exactly 3.3077 minutes ahead of earth time! Can you imagine the chaos this would cause in his relationships?

Actually, you don't have to imagine. The author of the story, brilliant Mr. Brian W. Aldiss, does an excellent job of outlining the resulting chaos and communication misunderstandings.

We poets, dreamers and other visionaries can relate to the idea of being 'ahead of time'. We do understand that it takes a toll on our relationships. All we can hope for is to find more people who are close to "our time".