The Last House on the Grid
Kristine Ong Muslim © 2008
(first appeared in The Martian Wave Edition 9, Issue 3, Oct 2006)
From the balcony of your choice,
you see how the stars become reachable.
Beyond the grid, the government-installed wires
hum with low-voltage electricity. How you wish
that they will, at least, glow so that you can
observe the electric sheep, mounds of mulch,
and fabricated grass lining the first Martian
farmyard.
The real cows and horses will arrive next week.
Tomorrow, you will run the new irrigation ditches, see if they can wet the entire tract of treated red sand.