I’ve been contemplating
the unseen architecture
of living organisms
that allows them to endure
unrelenting mechanical stress.
of living organisms
that allows them to endure
unrelenting mechanical stress.
The choreography
of the humble cicada’s
forewing and hindwing,
for example,
generating uplifting vortices
generating uplifting vortices
from a body
so easily crushed underfoot.
so easily crushed underfoot.
As if flight
were not miracle enough,
its wings carry arrays
of nanopillar cylinders
that rupture even the most
antibiotic-resistant of intrusions.
These aerodynamics and nanostructures
are simulated
inside sterile laboratories,
while outside,
while outside,
the world’s exoskeleton
splits itself open again and again.
splits itself open again and again.
Imagine if I could grow such wings.
A surface that repels
debris flung daily
across every glowing screen.
debris flung daily
across every glowing screen.
A membrane strong enough
to keep despair
from entering my bloodstream.
to keep despair
from entering my bloodstream.
Imagine moving through this world
without every cruelty adhering,
without every cruelty adhering,
without carrying to bed
the pathogenicity of strangers.
the pathogenicity of strangers.
I am no cicada.
I am too impatient
and absorb too much.
Still, somewhere beneath the sorrow
that has settled on me,
something fragile
something fragile
dreams of flight.
