Watch Time

Watch Time

By Nina Benson

Write about an object, a room, a feature of your home/house that you resonate with. In what ways does this thing help or stray you from quarantine sanity? Introduce it to us, bring it to life. Where does it live? Does it provoke any memories, feelings, smells?   A writing prompt from my ceramic student Samantha G.

So this is what I wrote...

Everyday I bump into Time… Watch sits on the ottoman waiting patiently for me to retrieve it from it’s charging station… During my nightly trip to the bathroom to empty my bladder of my nightly tea, Watch blinks on as if to say,  

“It’s me, Time... pick me up! I’m ready for work… Strap me on and let’s go, go, go, go…” 

‘Not so early!’ I say ... ‘It’s only 3:47 in the morning’. I feel as if I’m being handcuffed when I wear it.  I am confined - restricted - tricked… by Time… Oddly, it passes and is ever present.

There is the promise of movement forward, but everyday is the same. 

NOW! 

I wake. I stretch before getting up. I roll over on my back and groan… ‘Another day Thou hast given me… I am humbled… I try hard to be thankful for another day… to make a difference in a world with one color - grey.’ I thank Father… He knows I try. I weigh in… I start the day… just like the day before… Is today a smoothie day? Is it pre-probiotic day? Is it an off exercise day? Which exercise with Cindy video do I do? Which way should I walk? Do I need to go to the post office? Is today a store day? …

What day is it?

This thing called Time - meted by Watch... chronicled by Watch… It is all the same since we all got into this messy soup of viruses and bugs and death and waiting and movement that goes nowhere because of Time being circular, not so linear… perhaps, more spiral in nature. No matter what science fiction tries to tell us - Time is not multidimensional other than, technically Watch - is… It exists in 3 dimensions - height, width and depth and it is linear as it travels usually on my wrist and circular as it goes forward, however, it speaks only to the present and future… But, I remember a time … past.

Time is a lot like air. 

Air only exists because it is something that sustains life. Without it, life dies. However, air is only something that can be experienced. It can fit within the grasp of a newborn’s fist. It can go into the secret places, but there is no container large enough to hold it all unless one considers the vastness of the earth and gravity acting upon air. We simply believe air - is. Likewise, with Time; it - is… Mainly for mankind, to pass, to spend, but it is something “we” do not produce - though foolishly we think we do. We say, “we can make Time...” - but only in our image and that’s a very poor imitation of what is - Truth. 

Much like a scuba tank filled with air - it is the thing that contains the substance. The tank is NOT the substance. Watch is the instrument that ticks down the seconds. Watch is the thing which we hold onto foolishly believing that we can grasp a characteristic of the Divine. We hear the ticking, experience the vibration of Watch telling us “something”, but we lose it,... it’s stolen off the table where we left it, ... it falls and is broken. It slips through our hands like sand... It’s gone all too quickly; but this is Time.

So Watch is the beacon that wakes when I bump into the ottoman and triggers my mind to the ever presence of Time… Though, I would rather pretend I take no notice of Time; it invariably is unavoidable. It is the account I unwittingly spend… sadly, sometimes, like there is no tomorrow.

These daze as even my seconds have the appearance of being endless, and mundane, and dreary… I spend my Time doing scheduled activities - routines - to keep the insanity at bay. Because of political restrictions my Time and I are restricted to such control. Spontaneity was kicked to the curb as an unwanted woman of the night. She was used and abused and her freedom, charm and recklessness was put on lock-down! No more risks. 

Risks are deemed bad. Unsafe. Uncontrollable.

The political climate is all about control. Our Time is tightly wound and controlled.

I rise with the dawn, when the sun rises - of course, I stretch and arch my neck… Watch is on my wrist now counting “me” my steps for the day, encouraging me to reach my goal of movement through Time. It’s strange - this new relationship between Watch and Time. It did not exist so tightly entwined as before the changes of our lives due to... this messy soup of viruses and bugs and death and waiting and movement that goes nowhere...

So now we have Watch over Time… I keep watch over time. iWatch Time…