Tower

Granite below, 
the steady strength of brute bedrock
   Secure and unquestionable hold
for towering, climbing glass and 
concrete girders 

The relentless downward dead load push
    of pressure; of weight; of footsteps 
Over Schuberth’s geology   
   (an arguable tenet)
upon the Fordham gneiss and Manhattan schist
Robertson’s tower scratching at clouds

Tripartite, beam, strut, rod
colonnaded patterns, pilaster projections
grace and integrate 
these towers of stanchion and brace
     Vertical exploitation of space
     a spire’s measurable inches for justification
     of air rights 
     of loss of light and ownership of shadows

An ascending population
For the agglomeration of buildings
    with windows
    for the masses and multitudes
    to glare down upon the granite
and ponder…
about Malthus
and the Gorilla in the room.