Some Notes On The Locals

Where to begin? You will be amused
to hear of such quaint customs as
freedom and equality, though
sights of these proved elusive;

Art is where they send messages
to someone they have never met;
unusually, guilt is spread
throughout the population,

often in quantities only
our Most Guilty could withstand;
sufficient to say they have invented
money, warfare, science and lies.

Much effort involves sockets and pipework
instead of binary fission. Where
Babies Come From
is worth a watch,
if only for the surprise ending.

The post-reproductive caste discuss
entropy at length. This is health.
Death seems common, and unique
information is often buried in the ground.

More pathological is their belief
that the universe is benign, something
they will regret when a Locust Fleet
sniffs out their broadcasts.


—David Barber