I Made Time Stop by Sam Summers
I Made Time Stop
Obviously the first thing that comes to mind is a dripping tap
Or a gushing tap gushing ad apparent infinitum
And I’m holding my breath through a clenched fist
And unblinking
Stop.
And if I could I’d run through a pet shop and take a feather from every bird and take the still but still damp saliva from each dog’s mouth on the tip of a new finger and change the trajectories of goldfish and watch to see if they’d blink and steal some of the money from the till and give it to you.
I’d run through a supermarket and empty a box of cornflakes over a short person’s head just to see if I could stop them in midair and take in the beauty of a head suspended in a cloud of cornflakes like a forever snowglobe with cornflakes instead of snow and a head.
I’d run through a garden centre at night and set off the burglar alarm and discover what a still sound sounds like and I bet it’s something beautiful beautiful beyond all comprehension like four rainbows at once or your smiling nose and then I’d play with the rakes.
Once I’d really gotten the hang of it I’d begin to annoy the bees and when they got close enough to sting me I’d make them stop and I’d keep doing it until I was covered in frozen bees and then I’d strut around town in my suit of bees and everybody would think I was really cool.
I’d get so good that I could stop a beam of light before it reaches the end of a room and then I’d climb inside it and surround myself with it and it would taste like honey and it would feel like the best parts of the sky and when it flooded my lungs I could sing like money and you.
I’d empty a primary school dining hall and fill the air with neatly shredded paper and ‘Just Like Heaven’ and I’d tap you on the nose to wake you up and we’d dance for as long as we wanted in the forever snow and I’d freeze one of your tears so that I could stare into it for as long as it takes to figure out why and then we’d kiss a millennium kiss and then I’d go home and finish washing my hands.
Sam Summers was the winner of the Young Adults category of the NCLA’s Water Poetry Competition 2012.
The NCLA Water Poetry Competition was judged by W.N. Herbert and John Burnside. The ceremony was held at Northern Stage on 23rd February 2012.
Photographs of the event can be viewed here.
NCLA Water Poetry Competition website.
A note from Sam Summers on writing this poem: ‘The title and concept came from an advert on the metro, and when I was writing it I listened to this song on repeat http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj2HcdiOmt8 which kind of sounds like time stopping to me.’
and a brief biography:
Sam is 19 years old, from Sunderland, studying English Lit at Newcastle. You can read more of his poems at http://www.writerscafe.org/samsummers