Emperor X Follow

Chalk in the riverbed
was deposited
by the ocean as it boiled off.
Encased in calcium carbonate,
we could drown or we could solder.

I climbed the ranks of militiamen
and the Sadrites
and my parents felt a cautious pride
and disregarded Shari'a Law
and put the Tigris in a trench now.

Give us rain.
Send us water.
Send us trucks.
Send us tanks.
Send us IEDs.
Send us planes.
Is the sky clear enough?
Send us dust storms.

Allahu Akbar.

The sand has lowered the vitamin
saturation point.
Put a straw under the bridge and suck.
We made a pact with the Arakeen
and we built ourselves a filter.

The city hydro's undrinkable.
Shattered cinderblocks
are their favorite things to talk about.
We saw your face in the Guardian
and it raised the circulation.

Send us rain.
Please transmit.
Please receive our dumb prayers, telepath.
Send a flood.
Send us an avalanche.
Send us cold.
Send us ice.
Send us meteorites.
Send us snow.
Send us hail.
Send us high speed rail.
We can pay.
We should pay.
We will pay.
We insist.
No defaults.
But we must get down to Chechnya.
We defend.
We fight back.
We plant bombs under tracks.
We skip church.
All the monotheists sing:
"Allahu Akbar!"

And the Inuit sang,
and the Zionists sang:
"Allahu Akbar!"

And the economists sang,
and the astronomers sang,
and the anarchists sang:
"Allahu Akbar!"

And the atheists sang:
"Allahu Akbar!"

God is great.
Allahu Akbar.