Space (December)

Blackboards of equations, whiteboards of diagrams do nothing to explain Einstein’s idea that space is not ‘nothing’; how space is a physical entity that interacts with matter. His words are a two-line poem: “Matter tells space how to curve, space tells matter how to move.” This words explanation is more domestic than it first sounds. Reading them during December holidays, in the Brian Wilson quiet in my room, my home is a model universe. Kitchen cupboards tower like Pillars of Creation, Christmas lights manufacture starry backdrops to galaxies of furniture. Air is space, curving everywhere, telling matter how to move.