Of the Moment by Patrick Osada

Arts Richmond

Online - 28 September 2020

“The distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.”

                 – Albert Einstein

How does a skilful artist capture now?

Moments of inspiration soon decay,

the freshness of those visions lost to time,

each line or brush-stroke made from yesterdays.

The camera’s no better trapping now,

the whirr of motor drives is like a clock,

with every click an image sets in time –

each freshly captured now in history’s locked.

Recording on real-time CCTV,

the ever-changing present fills the screen,

but when the set goes blank we know the cause:

it’s time’s persistent ghost in the machine.

from ABOUT TIME, the 2019 anthology of shortlisted entries from The Roger McGough Poetry Prize. Copies of this Anthology can be purchased for £5 including P&P from Arts Richmond.