The Man Who Could Smell Time
The man who could smell time
reported a scent resembling
licorice, or anise
and that the aroma was identical
regardless of the apparent motion
of the recipient of the olfactory impulse:
no change occurred in the odor’s or nose
when present transmuted to past
or future to now —
in other words, no Doppler shift.
This observation indicates,
the man insisted, time functions
neither as wave nor particle, but rather
as a constant, part of an equation
definitive to our universe:
relentlessly travelling
somewhere.
Tom Wayman’s recent poetry titles include Built to Take it: Selected Poems 1996-2013 from Spokane’s Lynx House Press and The Order in Which We Do Things: The Poetry of Tom Wayman, selected and with an introduction by Owen Percy, from Wilfrid Laurier University Press, both published in 2014. A long poem of his won the 2015 Gwendolyn MacEwen/Exile poetry competition. Thistledown Press will publish a new collection of his poems, Helpless Angels, in 2017.
His most recent fiction title, The Shadows We Mistake for Love (Douglas & McIntyre, 2015), in June won the 2016 Diamond Foundation Prize for fiction (Western Canada Jewish Book Awards). For more information: www.tomwayman.com
To view other poems published in this issue please visit Vallum’s website.
Vallum magazine is also available in digital format. Featuring additional content such as: AUDIO and VIDEO recordings of selected poets, further poems, interviews, essays, and MORE!
Download the FREE APP and FREE SAMPLE EDITION for your tablet, kindle or smartphone through PocketMags OR iTunes.