Here is a shoelace
tougher than snakeskin
coarser than coats’ wool
Under each spiral
a union of polymers
structurally analogous
To the transatlantic cable
To the supposed
progress of civilization
To anything else you can worry
between thumb and ring
Held together so that it
can work at all
by the aglet at each end
What you can’t hear
may be deafening somebody else
What’s almost too small
to see may just be far away
Be your own means
of magnification or microscopy
Become your own
indignity