Barbed Wire

    by Ralph Burns

    Two or more strands twisted together，

    Oxides and baser salts， admixture

    Of carbon， metal of lash and scourge，

    Strung like a virus， barbed intervals，

    Stapled by hand to bois d'arc poles，

    Woven by machine， "devil's rope"

    Of vast interior plains，

    Of meadows bruised by their own

    Amplitude， barbed wire of a thousand

    Different kinds， undulating loops，

    Half round and square——Reynold's Web，

    Preston's Braid， Meriwether's Cold-

    Weather Wire， Shellaberger's Long Zigzag，

    Walking Wire， Curtis's Ladder， Visible Lace，

    Arch and Leaf， Descending Beads， Staple Barb，

    Open Diamond Point， Sproul's Twins，

    Elsey's Ribbon， Brink's Buckle， Ellwood's Star，

    Flute and Rib， Spool and Spurs， Joined Saucers，

    Tie through Eye， Body Grip，

    Blake's Knee Grip， Underwood's Tack——

    Unloved， unloving； that to name these

    Does no political good， but as precision

    Is polemical， against vague statement

    And circular evasion， as the sharp angle of sun

    And crossed wires together body forth a spark，

    It is some kind——cold， unmusical， utterly itself，

    Keeping cattle in， or the enemies of sheep

    Out.