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+---
+title: 'Shipwright'
+project: 'Elegies for Alternate Selves'
+...
+
+He builds a ship as if it were the last thing \
+holding him together, as if, when he stops, \
+his body will fall onto the plate-glass water \
+and shatter into sand. To keep his morale up \
+he whistles and sings, but the wind whistles louder \
+and taunts him: Your ship will build itself \
+if you throw yourself into the sea; time \
+has a way of growing your beard for you. \
+Soon, you'll find yourself on a rocking chair \
+on some porch made from your ship's timbers. \
+The window behind you is made from a sail, thick \
+canvas, and no one inside will hear your calling \
+for milk or a chamberpot. Your children \
+will have all sailed to the New World and left you. \
+But he tries not to listen, continues to hammer \
+nail after nail into timber after timber, \
+but the wind finally blows him into the growling ocean \
+and the ship falls apart on its own.