the world shudders
like an escalator
jolts up a sudden
start men in shirts
duck and bob like
pigeons on a ledge
fishtailed and sly
guzzling what’s given
granite platforms trap
a chlorinated wash of light
their blood ran out here
these rails these lines this trough through
voltage claimed the earth
we owe everything to the shy salted hunger
their own frail timbre
the riverbed stammered with bones