#ah!

text prompts / @laperlina

Where have we seen this all before?

I bet you weren't really expecting more –

But here I am, without a plan –

Recounting how it all began –

How I became yet another Cassandra.

I swear it isn't just propaganda –

And I know I'm not a prophet, but –

To 2030’s deadlines, this message is apposite.

So I'll shout it out from the roof tops,

This is so much worse than falling stocks –

I'll carve it into the hospital walls –

I'm not looking for a round of applause.

I walk past the hyacinths in my yard,

Thinking to myself, “This is going to be hard –”

Right then the sun catches my eyes –

And to my sudden, solemn surprise –

I have a realization that the god I spoke to,

Was but one of many, not the one “true”

Capital-G God that Christians believe in,

I spoke with a god, who didn't mind my sin.

Some queer poet like me, why did I think –

It took me a whole year to make the link –

His name stared down at me from my bookshelf –

It wasn't God with a G but Apollo himself.

I run my hand through my purple locks –

My heart can't handle these kinds of shocks.

I may only be turning thirty this year,

I may only be an ex-cashier –

But I think back on the life I've lived,

And wonder why he chose me for this gift.

But I guess it makes sense that a poet was called –

To bear witness to the end of the world,