battle of wits, sole mind

Burn the midnight oil 

to tinker with inventory like

a watchmaker without manuals.

            Tick tick tick of seconds

            recording divots on walls:

            battle of wits, sole mind.

            You: hunt

            without weapons, just your fists

                                        pried open.

Aim: survival.

                            Mode: warrior.

            Teach a course on How

            to Detach Fully, remove    

            yourself from notions of

            nobility—imprinted yet

            inchoate in your genes.

You: shape-shifter, agent

of erasure, amateur magician,

            switcher

                            of codes—

player in the ultimate con.

[Su Hwang, 'Masters of Re: Invention', from Bodega]