~ Ingenuity
~
I like bridges
And their soot-stained, 
Interlocking granite blocks;
Their woven steel cables that 
Were once stretched across 
The cold October cobalt skylines;
Labor of drones.
Where cameras shiver and click
From the awe-inspired work
Of the urban pioneers 
Now long since gone.
~
I like the ferry boats that pass
And look up under the expansive 
Support beams that keep safe
The Five-Line to Borough Hall
Or Barnum's pachyderms of the
Once romantic canvassed "Show on Earth."
I like the Bridge of Sighs
With its limestone and stone bars;
Above the gondola's; 
From its freedom to imprisonment
Once adjoined in Venice.
~
I like the Bays orange canary steel
Poking thru the mist;
Wielding full ambitions
Of an engineer's "what-ifs".
Legs staunched
Above the currents
That push and pull
...day upon day,
Wave after wave;
That no humpback whale fears
Or tidal season can freeze over.
~
I like the great Roman
Aquaduct bridge of Pont du Gard;
Positioned, inspiring 
..timeless.
And the stainless steel
Arch-bridge of modern craftsmen;
Bending, reflecting;
Weld joints of molten caulk;
Unified under the weight
Of the jockey's bend.
~
Bridges of duration;
Contiguous, horizontal frontiers
Standing from one millennium 
To the next; penciled flares 
...of ingenuity.
~
~ .....ian
~ 10-18-15