Buttons in the Desert

radio economics for the answers to it all
traditional test transmissions don't apply
radio page ephemera precede the empire's fall
a million mortal mechanisms manufactured to deny
the simple fact we're out of time and against a wall



interminable heartache seems prerequisite for a time
spent on this planet wandering
whirling round this roiling torrent seeking just a line
as lonesome buzzards ever-circling
connect two points together most elegant and refined



this agony ascends
as my benthic looming mood
icy sawtooth cubes climb up and clatter
cutting, searing flesh each corner every move
down twisting spine spiral staircasing
drift off maybe in a snowdrift
a suit for the winter pharoah of moguls



near Khiva is where the dervish flowed
the Muse who took him so long ago
a dusty beard and sweaty robes
considering such things as antipodes
what can't we model with these glyphs?
predictive science's truest language?
Al-Khorezm was Solomon
in trackless sands his work was done



wave goodbye to the outside
save the lies for those who'll die
we can't proceed if we can't decide
where we will want to place high tide
time doesn't tick it just glides
and each new storm implies
that we've multiplied too many times to divide
so is it species-wide suicide?