Coralville Public Library's Teen Zine
Rain by Lemieux
From afar it is a world of stone
of ice and heavy gray storms, of shadows that slither between rocks
in the night.
At a distance it is cold, dank,
and unwelcoming
a planet of perpetual turbulence
nearly uninhabitable save the mutant creatures
prowling its underground. It is seen as something
near death, if death could be described in a picture
worth a thousand words.
The planet has but one city: Tyvene- morke
house of thieves
land of exile for those who have committed such heinous crimes
that they should be cast out from their homeland.
Crude shelters of stone take the spattering rain, but do little
to keep the humans dry. The thieves have been imported from the
cities-- bulging, smog- blanketed metropolises of Earth-- and
shipped to the desolate stone world.
They do not know how to make shelters.
Mutants and mechanical creatures appear
occasionally
out of the gloom.
One or two men might catch a glimpse of them before they hear
the metallic sound
of grinding teeth preparing for a meal.