I Know This All to Be True

I learned that GPS satellites are so high in orbit
time moves faster for them
and the only reason we receive accurate information
is because Einstein’s equations are used to correct it.
And I think: life is like that—
birth its gravitational center, and the farther away
one travels from it, the faster time goes. It’s called
time dilation. Grandmother and I used to discuss it:
how fast time seemed to go the older one got.
And now, after traveling out passed meteors and moons,
shedding some of the gravitational pull like an old skin,
I have to make adjustments to teach my kids
what I’ve learned: how cold it gets this far out,
how dim the light grows, and how much more
we need each other to keep from drifting.

Michael T Young

Michael T. Young’s third full-length collection, The Infinite Doctrine of Water, was long listed for the Julie Suk Award. His previous collections are The Beautiful Moment of Being Lost and Transcriptions of Daylight. He received a Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. His chapbook, Living in the Counterpoint, received the Jean Pedrick Chapbook Award. His poetry has been featured on Verse Daily and The Writer’s Almanac. It has also appeared in numerous journals including One, Pinyon, Talking River Poetry Review, Valparaiso Poetry Review, and Vox Populi.