• I am Thetis. Or,
• I am she who does the dipping:
• my pen in the ink. Or,

• I am not myself at the nib, 
• I am Thetis. Or, 
• it is my touch that obstructs

• the total male immortal, or
• the hard-edged knowledge 
• of the word. No,

• there are some things 
• I will not stain with ink:
• not my fingertips, not

• what they have touched, 
• nor what they remember
• touching. No, my son,

you must be vulnerable.