the iron astrolabe: a cage of iron laws
cold metallic orbits inhabited by emblazoned beasts
set in motion above us, below us, within us
casting shadows and illusions around us

we toil, burn, blister, sweat, and bleed
we shit, spit, piss, fuck, and puke
roving exposed in the dusty air
soles against the dirt and its rocky grit
sweating beneath atomic rays our skin boils

from the short, brutish filth we gathered round fires
ostracizing nature and us from ourselves
pavement fuses with skin upon swift collision
blood mixing with ice, snow, and salt within the wound
corralled and branded in glass castles by the golden blade
keeping beat the clanging forge and throbbing drums of war

scouring for subsistence while kings raise thundering armies
governed by pulsating rhythms of organic machinations, cogs of fire and gears of blood,
rotating iron zeniths over pacing, eclipsing, colliding with brazing sparks
together against each other clashing, embattled with embittered steel
whence our muscles cringe into their final contortions we shit and rot away

~David T. Kukulkan~