ON THE LATE MASSACRE IN P...

If they had had tentacles or three heads
we would have treated them with more respect,
if they had had exoskeletons or antennae
uncertainty would have stayed our hands

but in their shapes we saw our own vulnerability
in their faces we saw our own fear and treachery
they were so like us.
	How could we be sure
that we would not, in time, become them,
given time, that they would not become us.
And then how would we know ourselves,
be chosen and unique in all the universe?

So we killed them—once we started
the moans, the screaming, the red mist of blood
certainly made them seem different; and then
it was easy, as easy as killing ourselves.

— Dave Calder

Learn more about Dave Calder's writings at
The Locus Databases

All rights to this poem belong to its author.

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