Earth

MYOPIC PLANET. BLUE-OCEAN-EYED WITH FOREIGN OBJECTS SLICING ACROSS ITS CORNEA. ITS RIVERS ITS STREAMS OF TEARS IN REVERSE, POURING INTO ITS EYES. ITS MARINE LIFE ITS RODS AND CONES. THE OCEAN FLOOR THE BLINDED RETINA. SLOW-SPIN PLANET BREATHING DEEPLY, UNFURLING LONG BANNERS OF ATMOSPHERE. ITS CLOUDS ITS FROSTY BREATH. ITS PLANT LIFE ITS BRONCHI. ITS GRASSES ITS CAPILLARIES. VULNERABLE PLANET. ITS ROCKS ITS SKELETONS. ITS SOIL ITS FLESH. ITS PLAINS THE HOLLOWS IN ITS CHEEKS, WEARING ITS MOUNTAINS LIKE SETS OF TEETH. ITS MOLTEN CORE ITS PROTOPLASM. VIABLE PLANET? PERHAPS. Rather an astronaut-explorer's description of the strange planet on which he is about to be marooned. And as this ironic tale of an all-too-possible future makes clear, of the many startling discoveries that await him on that mysterious terrain, the most startling of all is that the planet's name is... EARTH