Monsters Born and Made

by Tanvi Berwah

For Mini, who likes squids and crabs. And for Papa, who took us to see the ocean for the first time.

And maristags, living nightmares that move as fast on land as they do in water. The lithesome creatures are bipedal. Their front limbs are shorter. Stronger. Clawed. Made to grab prey and to tear muscles. Enormous antlers crown their heads. Their scales are luminescent and their blood green.

But it’s our own people whose fears and frustrations you must be careful of. The margin of the margins is a dangerous place to be, never forget that.”

No, I think, it is exactly human. The violence in this world doesn’t belong to the sea creatures. It belongs to us. To what we brought with ourselves.