Here Be Dragons

Nothing excites like a fragment of coastline,
A ribbon of mountains, an island arc,
A river’s meander, an outpost upon it,
A highway to cross it, and leave its mark.

Fantasy maps have gotten much better these days,
With histories drawn in tectonics –
With rain-shadowed deserts and cyclonic trade-winds,
And conlangic place-names correct in their phonics.

Readers demand that their continents drift,
On a globe that is spinning through space –
Our increase in knowledge has moved-on our world,
And our make-believe realms must keep pace.

Adventurers trek across accurate kingdoms,
The blanks are uncovered, the borders expand,
And fossils are dug-up of earlier monsters –
The dragons evolve now, and so does the land.