Tensile Failure

I dug through the drawer of dead batteries

and loose change to find a piece of wire.

The router’s red light is a steady blink,

a small, plastic panic in the dark.

I tried to bend the clip into a spine,

forcing the metal to give up its shape.

It snapped with a dry, quiet click,

leaving a gray smudge on my thumb.

Now I have two halves of a failure,

sharp points that won't reach the reset,

and the internet is still a ghost

haunting the corner of the room.