Mind John Henry

We’ve been here before—choose your own
Adventure, hypertext mark-up
Language, the Armillary Sphere—

Texts stacked like lenticular clouds,
Racks of data, bone china plates,
Everything spinning, including

Your head with every step you take.
Put away your calculators.
Relying on code is cheating,

Unless you control the fairy
Numbers, the means of production.
If you’re a writer, you’re useless

Illumination anymore,
Candle on the factory floor.