Help me, for I have become longer -- taller -- thinner
I am more ungenerous, more unwilling to give
Sharply, I will hurt you, wound you
A musician of the purest variety
I burn, slightly and superficially
A functional, right ratio
Here now abbreviated
Included within
Me


What is this poem talking about?

Each line

is given by the answer to the previous line, minus one letter.

Help me, for I have become longer -- taller -- thinner

This piece of spaghetti is stringier than that one!

I am more ungenerous, more unwilling to give

A miserly, parsimonious person is stingier than a charitable person.

Sharply, I will hurt you, wound you

The stinger of a wasp for example causes a small wound.

A musician of the purest variety

A singer might be considered pure as they only use their voice, no other "impurities" like instruments.

I burn, slightly and superficially

I thought I had ruined the food, but I had only singed it.

A functional, right ratio

The mathematical ratio of a right angled triangle of the opposite and the hypotenuse is the sine.

Here now abbreviated

But who writes "sine"? sin(θ) = o/h;

Included within

The answer is actually within the line

Me

I figured this one out first and worked backwards.

• For the three-letter one, it's "sin" because that's the abbreviation for the sine function. – f'' Sep 18 '15 at 0:09
• Ah of course! I was looking for an abbreviation of "here" or "now" – James Webster Sep 18 '15 at 0:16
• And the number of words in each clue is the same as the number of letters in each word. – Deusovi Sep 18 '15 at 2:34

A tensile failure test

Help me, for I have become longer -- taller -- thinner

A tensile specimen fails by lengthening and becoming thinner

I am more ungenerous, more unwilling to give

It becomes harder (work hardens), which could be described as ungenerous (translating from the scientific term to the usual english usage), and gives with more difficulty (modulus increases).

Sharply, I will hurt you, wound you

Look, I don't really think this is the answer, so this gets more and more scretched (excuse the pun). Sharply could refer to a sharpie impact test, or the fact that a sharp edge makes a stress concentrator, which tend to be the break point, or the possible sharp edges left over after it snaps

A musician of the purest variety

Mmm. Well, I guess we could be performing the test on a musical string.

I burn, slightly and superficially

Often there is localized heating at the break point

A functional, right ratio

The ratio between the length and the cross sectional area (okay, okay, I know it's weak - I didn't see your answer written here!)

Here now abbreviated

Break = abbreviated

Included within
Me

Inclusions can be the source of the weakness. Sigh It's just so weak. I feel broken. Torn into two. Rent asunder. Unable to hold it all together. Brittle. Someone give this dog a dog bone.

• Apparently, SE couldn't tell I was even human from that answer!! – Dr Xorile Sep 17 '15 at 21:07
• Computers don't appreciate puns. – Dr Xorile Sep 17 '15 at 21:07
• It seems people don't either. sad face. – Dr Xorile Sep 17 '15 at 23:35