New land.
Fertile. Free. And barren. Barren
except tree, vine and the Chinchanu:
The silly cat–like critters with beastly claws. Barren
except for the shuttle’s scorch marks branding fresh blue grass
that The Chinchanu eat. Barren except for the settlers’ tents standing
like termite hills between the trees that the Chinchanu climb.
They line up with beastly claws facing the setting sun.
How quaint says the man with big yellow bulldozer
and new shiny gun.
Melanie Rees is an environmental consultant whose work involves playing with soil and plants and animals. When she isn’t gallivanting in the mud or stuck up a tree she writes speculative fiction and poetry. Her work has appeared in magazines such as Apex, Aurealis, Penumbra, Cosmos, and Daily Science Fiction. In the real world, she lives in a straw house with a menagerie of animals in regional South Australia. Online she lives at www.flexirees.wordpress.com and on Twitter @FlexiRees.
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