Time = XYZn, by Saad Ali

Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? by Lorette C. Luzajic (Canada) 2020

​Time = XYZn
 
for Frida Kahlo, Lorette Luzajic & Sukaina Fatima 
 
after Does Anybody Really Know What Time It is? 
by Lorette C. Luzajic (Canada), 2020 C.E. 
 

I. 
 
They say, 
       a cat has nine lives! 
But merely keeping an eye 
       on a cat’s life 
doesn’t equate to 
       telling the time. 
 
II. 
 
She is definitely 
       like a cat. 
She has a mind of her own 
       —one of a kind! 
She has a frame of her own 
       —one of a kind! 
The wheel of time keeps rotating 
       her back and forth in life. 
But her revolutions cannot be contained 
       by the hands of time. 
I wonder though, 
       what time/life she is currently at? 
 
III. 
 
This yarn-ball of time, 
       it’s her favourite pet. 
With the needles of memories, 
       she sews mammoth statues 
of love and hope— 
       chanting: Viva La Liberty! 
 
IV. 
 
And she ponders: 
       what if I were the clock; the time itself; 
had > 24 digits to circumnavigate 
       the worlds of AMs and PMs; 
had > 26 letters to juggle with 
       in the twine-ball of symbols & signs; 
had > 60 revolutions to place a bet 
       at the gambling-table called life?

Saad Ali

This piece will be included in Saad Ali's upcoming book of poetry this year. 

Saad Ali (b. 1980 C.E. in Okara, Pakistan) has been brought up in the UK and Pakistan. He holds a BSc and an MSc in Management from the University of Leicester, UK. He is an existential philosopher-poet. Ali has authored four books of poetry i.e. Ephemeral Echoes (AuthorHouse, 2018), Metamorphoses: Poetic Discourses (AuthorHouse, 2019), Ekphrases: Book One (AuthorHouse, 2020), and Prose Poems: Βιβλίο Άλφα (AuthorHouse, 2020). He is a regular contributor to The Ekphrastic Review. By profession, he is a Lecturer, Consultant and Trainer/Mentor. Some of his influences include: Vyasa, Homer, Ovid, Attar, Rumi, Nietzsche, and Tagore. He is fond of the Persian, Chinese, and Greek cuisines. He likes learning different languages, travelling by train, and exploring cities on foot. To learn more about his work, please visit www.saadalipoetry.com.