ROUND THE CLOCK

At 9 GMT, on the Equinox,
a poet sits atop ancient hills
on a little isle in a windy sea
with Muse on the go and finger on keyboard, to write.

At the same moment:
Hendrix Olsen, hydrographer at the research station, Barentsburg
has his coffee break. He has a headache
after a quarrel with his wife the night before and really needs it,
if he is to finish his daily report.

Same moment:
In the high heat of the day, Abebi, grateful for the shade of a great baobab tree
waits with her camera for the elephant herd approaching from the Tsodilo hills
to water in the Chobe river.

Same time:
On the outskirts of Kidal, Aghali notices a stationary queue at the checkpoint ahead.
Without a second thought, he jerks the truck sideways, revving the engine wildly and charges the gate, in a storm of gunfire.
If he is late, the Sheikh will sell the goods to Hafiz.

Exactly then:
Adedayo in Yola, out in the backyard
with family gathered to celebrate:
- little did he know -
old grandma Kikilomo takes the razor
to his unsuspecting genitals
as was and is the custom.

Exactly when:
In Agri, hometown of a potter called Borak
who learned the craft of Iznik tiling from his father and fathers before him;
in coming out of noon prayers, he steps into the Square at the exact moment
a taxicab swerves round a cyclist and knocks the old man to the ground.

Whilst:
Arash, inordinately pretty, had outraged her parents
by cutting off her own hair to a bob
so they had locked her in her bedroom in their home in Shiraz.
Straight after lunch, her family laid down for siesta,
she pries open her balcony window and clambered down the fig tree to the street below.

Concurrently:
here is Sophia sweeping the steps of her home in Zarafshan;
a thankless task due to the constant dust and sand from the Kyzylkum desert drift,
nor helped by her husband away at the Navoi smelting works
and mother-in-law whingeing about her knees.

At that moment:
Alexi, mayor of Yekaterinburg, born in the Ural Mountains
- and having spent most of his life as a trades union rep
for the timber industry -
before clocking off from his office
hands in his resignation.
He has decided to spend the rest of his days running a rescue centre
for arctic foxes caught in poachers traps.

Synchronously:
Tandin Dorji, a trainee vocational pupil in Draktsho, Thimphu,
helping in the Centres’ new project
of constructing a maintenance-free bread oven for the community
hears the gong for evening devotions:
Time to pray.

That exact instant:
Arjun, in the porch
of his son’s little shack on the bank above the Sabarmati River,
at that time at dusk
“between the worlds”
opens his eyes wide
with comprehension
and takes his last breath:
a rattle and shudder and he is gone, flying over the green mountains
behind the village.

Exactly when:
Chenghiz, latest recruit at the Gobi IUCN Conservation Centre,
climbs out of a helicopter
returning from an aerial survey across the eastern steppes
of his beloved Przewalski horses.

The selfsame instant:
In Yungaburra,
with the moon waxing in the East,
Jarrah Is lying in a hammock
under the black bean tree in his garden
wondering whether that lovely girl Kiri who smiled at him in the market
might be there tomorrow.

Then:
Li Wei, a janitor at An’ning prison, where the inmates slave away without reprieve, leaves home on his bicycle to start his night-shift (the ten thousandth) while he worries about his wife,
poisoned by the factory fumes.

Likewise, that moment:
Aiko wakes up suddenly in the darkest
of night, wondering why.
He goes out on the balcony of his penthouse in Yokohama
with its spectacular view over the harbour.
Then there is a lurch and wobble as the wall seemed to slip against the stars:
some flashes of light
and sudden total darkness.
The earth plates are shifting.

At that moment:
Aroha cannot sleep.
She keeps looking out
from the Tiritiri Matangi lighthouse balcony
but there is no sign of an incoming vessel.
Her husband should be back from his whale-monitoring trip up the gulf coast long ago.
Weather reports are fine,
but something in her is dIsturbed.

That precise instant:
Loto in Funafuti, having completed the traditional day-long ceremonies
and at last managing to retreat
from the on-going partying,
gets to consummate his marriage
to his childhood love, Tausa’afia.

Whilst:
Lalago checks her nets in the cove outside El Progresso,
favourite location of the islands sea-lions.
She has been waiting for the moon
to rise over the eastern horizon.
This is the best time to catch rockfish,
on the turn of the tide.

Same time:
Truck driver Muuka, on his regular weekly night run along the Denali Hwy from Paxton
stops and dips the headlights
to allow a huge brown bear
to clear the road.

In the case of:
Sanda, at cock-crow, though she is oblivious of any time, even day or night,
comfy and cared for in her Seniors retirement home in Squamish,
likes to run her fingers up and down
the ribs of her arm-chair
while humming, to the tune
of Honky Tonk Women.

Likewise, that literal instant
at crack of dawn
Katungi is on his first patrol on the reservation;
he is so tense, on the lookout for illegal logging militias,
that he did not see the jaguar
before it was too late.

The exact same instant:
Pedro waits at the Calexico fuel stop
at the time he pre-arranged
with his brother,
hoping the rest of his family would have negotiated the border by then.
No sign.

That same moment
Wayne manages to find a quiet spot down an alley, behind some bins.
With every ounce of his being focused
he slides the lovely needle into his arm, rolling his eyes heavenwards
as he subsides into otherworldly blisses.

Bang on the identical time:
Jesse arrives punctually at her office;
she looks at her desk
and at the phone with loathing.
Is this all worth it?
Her new kitchen units,
the prospect of dreary sex
and tv soaps by way of happiness.
Not even a prop or hope.
I will take up God, she decides,
that very minute.

At which same time:
Elgar, in the kennels in Sisimuit
puts his sleigh dog to bed, after a night run to the glacier,
with his latest girlfriend.
She had seemed keen when they set out
but he gets the impression that date
was not quite what she wanted.

Likewise, precisely then:
Jane Laverello, in the Camogli health care centre on Tristan da Cunha,
gives birth to her first child,
to be called Dawn
- as that was literally what comforted her in her pain,
visible, rising behind the volcano.
Nearest airport 1,500 miles away,
so lucky, all went well.