endangered
you probably haven’t been
to Bukit Tenggek, Malaysia
and you probably won’t, now
because it’s almost gone
a limestone outcrop, sculpted karst
turned meringue
being quarried out of existence
as you read this
how did anyone notice
Plectosoma tenggekensis, this
minute snail clinging, creeping
on the hollow hill, fractured hell
of dust and ruin?
well, no-one did, until last year
when it got its name, became
‘known to science’
look at your fingernail
no, look
at a sunflower seed, an aphid
P. tenggekensis is smaller
translucent
helical, coil upon coil
and all the colours of roses
it lives only on that hill
it will not outlast it
it has cousins on three nearby hills, themselves
dissolving into man-gouged lakes
they have drowned in the mud
their jewel colours fading into once-was
not only snails but whole hillsides
can wink out like dying stars
almost before we see them
Mandy Macdonald is n Australian writer, translator and editor living in Aberdeen. She has been writing poems for as long as she can remember, but no-one else knew until very recently. She has had poems published in Poetry Scotland, Pushing Out the Boat, and Haiku Scotland.
Oops! line 20 should read: ‘P. tenggekensis is smaller’, with ‘P. tenggekensis’ italic if possible, and not indented.
Sorry Mandy – have been out all day. am sorting that out now!
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