At least the rituals are aesthetically attractive

So tired of all this talk of
the corn god, all these tedious
     sacrifices. There's a salt
mine 25 miles from here that
     has been systemically depopulated,

fed to the corn, and why? Sure,
the plant grows tall, and, yes, newly
     rust colored, it sustain us for weeks,
sometimes months. But now the
     milk god grows jealous, and

the milk comes brown and stale. Now
the water god grows angry and the
     air dries and we have weeks of dust.
The elders have started to scout a
     nearby fishery filled with migrant

workers, all smiling, all friendly,
     all doomed.