canal

Built by hands
for the military. 

An element weaponized. 

The ultimate
measure of mansplaining

the needs of a
country. 

I can’t connect
with 
a national mindset
espousing 
ways forward
framed by warfare. 

Or fear of warfare. 

So I can wonder. 

And travel around
a bit 

and

notice

often,

means 
that speak
in a 
different tongue

than the ends. 

Destiny 
defined
by destinations. 

Locks 
that can 
only be picked
from the
inside

are similar
to

a pyramid scheme 
maybe.

A force-feeding
for the capital

while

the builders suffer
sickness,

and employee turnover
could be
measured by
death-

five people
per
kilometer. 

One thousand
all totalled. 

Four to ten
thousand laboured. 

Many were immigrants,

the accounting
is shaky. 

Memorial markers 
honour 
the humanhands 
that toiled, 
that were crushed,
that were exploded,
that ailed. 

Notwithstanding clauses 
lionize
innovation,
determination,
toil.