beloved braincase, body’s bleeding heart
helmet law
dear ribs thick with implied meat, disused central
railroad, reverse spec house unplumbed
to propitious frame
dear double-strung forearm, dear violin bow,
dear pachyderm-eared pelvis,
dear barnacle spine—
tolerate this animate interlude, nervous tic of cell & swoosh,
elasticity & vein
& you’ll emerge, democratically beautiful,
armature to nothing
you’ll make the case for stasis, grow
each year more ravishingly still
yes, the flesh is weak,
but you are forged of patience,
ill inclined to cheer or mourn
the extraneous
—respiration, cartilage—as it trundles away