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ALIEN ANATOMY

Instead of bone it uses a kind of plastic,
some of it rigid, some skin-like, permeable.
This stuff is not set like a hat-stand frame inside
but cases the organs from outside like an armour.
A tubular heart runs the length of its body
and floats in the blood it pumps round. Its limbs are fixed
to its chest, which is horizontal. To the fore
of the chest is the head, to the rear the belly,
which holds the large gut, rectum and sexual bits.
Its two main eyes fill each side of its head. The beak
works sideways. The brain is between the eyes. Along
the nerve cord are lesser brains controlling local
functions. For accurate smell it has two feelers
on the front of its face. Often winged, it has four,
but they are not obligatory. All over
its body are pores through which oxygen slides
to complicated tissues. It races after
its prey, or jumps it, or waits;—attacks and defends
with a rich arsenal of chemical weapons.
It communicates via touch, taste, vision and smell.
It has timers; and unlike us, good magnetics.
Many of its kind live in groups, build villages.
Most have four stages of life. In the last one some
exist for a day, do not ingest, mate, then die.
They never question why this is how their life is.
They come in ten-plus million specifications.
They once ruled the earth. One day they will rule again.

Alan Marshfield

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