Instead of church spires, mobile towers

offer reception on treeless ridges.

A scattering of solar panels glints

amongst the tessellated greys and browns.

Trees are kept to an acceptable height.

Each garden holds a two-year history

of yuccas, cordylines or three weeping birches.

No eucalypt spreads its arms above the spouting.
Only on the fringes are the houses let loose

spreading like rumours into paddocks

where grids of bitumen are gouged

out of clay, streetlights inserted, kerbing set

acres of clover and rye grass transformed into Ridge View –

a lifestyle to walk through to a map of the future

rendered in display homes and flickering wide-screens.

Perhaps the finest suburban view

is seen from a circling flight,

a mosaic of ochre and charcoal tiled roofs

reminding us how hardened the landscape seems.