Arrival

BY MONI BRAR

We walked off a plane and into a forest not seeing the berries signaling danger or food nor the pink flash in the river We saw only rocks waiting to be gathered and stacked land ready to be cleared flattened and ploughed to grow what we did not know We peeled back the earth’s mossy coat seeded hope seeped into small towns spilled into spaces unseeing the displacement of people flora and fauna eager to build a grim new future a myopic dream in the wide open