Stress Test
Emileigh Barnes

     

(Plausible alloy results from the Charpy impact strain-rate test)

a) brittle fracture b) ductile fracture c) completely ductile fracture

                                                             In winter
                                                             cold metal does not give itself away,
                                                             fracturing only on impact.
                                                             This is based on
                                                             low-temperature ductility.

                                                             In fact,
                                                             had the Titanic's hull been reinforced,
                                                             ice may never have pierced
                                                             her steel shell.

                                                             In space,
                                                             metals that brush shoulders
                                                             stick together permanently.

***

(It is a bitter concoction of voyeurism and carnage that draws you and me together as fine strands
of hair cluster and huddle at the gates of a shower drain, until they are plucked or suckled away.)

 

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