monocoque*

In my limbs, you cut furrows
in which to sow

no, I cannot let
an infection like yours
curb this monody -
for our ties
once iron have
melted down into sand


whose tiny pebbles burrow
under the bridge -
leak into the soil of the earth.

Surely you understand that
even we must work in cycles
That flux and shake
that oxidate


and annul,

that invalidate.

So I have raised these obstacles


as battle cries.



for fear that no matter how far
I stretch
the stain of you
will never rub off.



*mon·o·coque
A metal structure, such as an aircraft, in which the skin absorbs all or most of the stresses to which the body is subjected.