Long-Distance Blues

We turn in hours

and always by threes -

ahead

behind

awake

asleep -

We turn in hours

and hours

and hours

of screen light blue

and data exchange

and two thousand miles

2,000 terra-bytes

too long to count -

but were I to tally the number

it's 130,560 giga-beats to you

as my heart keeps time -

Through airwaves

congested with lagging pixels -

Over hot asphalt highways

yawning black infinite -

My sweet tea southern song

meets Midwest saxophone swing

as I press my way westward

to your sun-kissed desert drawl

of home