'Continuum' means the transition from one to another, or a seamless conjunction of two entities. This is a popular word in modern physics where time and space are considered as two entities which can change into each other and usually exist as a couple, with one flowing into the other. The poet has structured his poem in such a way that the stanzas, except for the introductory one, flow into one another and do not stand as individual, stand aloof pieces. The transition happens in language as well as in the thoughts that the language expresses.
In the first
stanza the poet calls our attention to a common misconception. The moon looks
like,
“(it) rolls
over the roof and falls behind
my house, and
the moon does neither of these things,
I am talking
about myself.
So,
the poet cites a cliché commonly found in poetry, and unmasks it to tell us that
when we say things which are not true, we in fact reveal ourselves. We
see things the way we are and not the way they are. The poet warns us that
everything that he has written is only his own perception.
These first lines frame the poem and serve as an introduction. When read in this light, the
poem is more about creation, the poet’s and God’s. In the second stanza, the
poet tells us we are absolutely programmed in our behavior and that we are not blessed
with free will. We can’t think thoughts. They are spontaneous. We can’t even change the subject of our thought or go to sleep when we wish to. It is all
predestined for us.
Having
nothing better to do the poet goes out on barefoot in the darkness. He leans from the porch across the hedges in his front courtyard over
to where it is darker and nothing is distinguishable (washed-out creation). In
the dark sky he spies two bright clouds, with moon’s dust on them. He inserts
the word query in brackets to ask whether it is not just another beautiful
phrase at the expense of reality. He likes one of the clouds for some personal
reasons.
“one’s mine
Which is which will depend on how it is
shaped by the wind and other things.
Time moves slowly for him. In a very cryptic expression he quips,
“A long moment
stretches, the next one is not
on time.”
This may sound
absurd since moments refer to time and time is never fast slow. Time has a set pace. However, we are reminded of the new idea in physics that time
is relative, presumably a fact known to poets for long!
Being barefooted
the poet feels the chill of the cold floor not only on his feet but right up to
his throat. Suddenly the night sky pours down as rain or fog or even as
darkness. The poet has no choice but to go in. He turns on his heel and goes in
closing the door behind him. The door is closed on the real author, God, who
created all this. God is such a good craftsman who picks up his tools and his
litter when he is done. God urges the poet quietly back to bed.
Overall, Continuum is a spiritual poem which makes no distinction between fact and fiction. It also shows the seamless
merging of perception and observation. Insomnia or sleeplessness is something
that happens to most writers. Usually writers write something to get out of
it. Here a greater author, God Himself, urges the writer to go back to bed.
Ironically, the writer manages to write a poem out of this experience. The artist
and God are also seamlessly connected. They are both creative. God keeps his
workshop clean, his tools ready and he keeps creating.
“the author,
cringing demiurge, who picks up
his litter and
his tools…”
The poet, on the other hand, feels frustration and
sleeplessness and they motivate him to write poems.
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