FLORA SATANICA

Hell is a rich and varied habitat.
From its low-lying rivers, bogs, and leas
to the windswept hackles of the Great Orme,

its climate, landscape and geology
support a range of plant communities.
The human impact, while significant,

is managed well, although of late increasing
numbers of the damned have put some strain
upon the countryside. As a result,

on most estates the land is farmed for pain;
gorse anvils, shredders, and threshing-machines
crop thumbs and fingers in the bramble scrub,

and nettle beds are grown by the latrines
and slurry pits, where excrement collects
from deadstock grazing in the ragwort fields.

There are no trees. Deployments of insects
and cankers, die-backs, rusts, and needle drop
have cleared the woodland and removed the shade,

leaving new prairies of abandoned hope
– bracken and hemlock mostly – to flourish
in their place. They also burn well when dry.

Rape is quite common here; it nourishes
the ovens and furnaces that drive
much of the regional economy,

and quite a few signature species thrive
in its field margins: cleavers, horehound, docks
and agrimony, teasels, bittersweet.

In the following pages we shall look
at these and other plants that now depend
upon the nitrogen, organophosphates

and neglect that finally brought an end
to the needless diversity. Maps will show
their total domination and their spread

throughout the nine circles. Visitors to
these parts may find them useful as they walk
our extensive network of burning coals.

Your help in managing our rare outbreaks
of colour will be much appreciated,
as will the contributions of your waste.