ibeam

steel rolled out of marsh grass
spanning miles rising stories
web and flange
ground substance
bones tissue bound
arteries recoiling
hands on scaffold
keep us
twist bend and shear

brownfield after sunrise
(wilbur ross bought sparrows point from bethlehem steel in 2003, sticking taxpayers with money owed to workers and stiffing workers out of contracted health insurance)

la aventura de cuba y maryland

in tropical light
the white
man
rode the burrow
from santiago hacia las sierra maestra
sobre el rio juragua
robo
hierro duro
de la tierra esponjos

on the semitropical marsh
tons of cold air exploded tons of molten iron
iron and carbon separating and rejoining
with blistered hands
charred faces
mangled arms
fractured skulls
into smooth hard slick steel

y en la selva humeda
on the broken tarmac
ruins
resignation
religion
immitation

brownfields at sunrise
(after buying mineral rights to ore deposits in cuba 1882, the pennsylvania steel company bought sparrows point in 1887 and started producing steel there in 1889)