Fictional Apocalyptic Poetry Series - Part 1

With the wisdom of a toddler who

imagines the world is and isn't

when his eyes open and shut,

I imagine - I've been ready for this,

and the timing is good... As if my proclivities pertain

to this matter. Matters of this sort.

A Sun Turned Black. A Sea Made Blood. A Sky Run Dry.

I'd considered these matters in depth

in ninth grade, when I was looking for distraction

from my changing body and my shy lust. Ran my fingers

across the spines of books that worked my nerves.

Whispered my eyes across titles so

charged I could almost feel electricity pumping my heart.

Whore of Babylon. A Holy Remnant. The Beast and the Lamb.

Synthesizing theologies, scanning news for false prophets,

searching myself for certainty; I spun my theories and I spun

my wheels with no where to go - never buying books,

but reading them in store. Five hundred dollars

wouldn't have paid for the volumes my appetite lavished

on me, cross-legged and curious on the carpet.

Postmillenialist. The Thousand Year Reign. Iron Scepter of

the Antichrist.

The Antichrist.

The Antichrist.

In the corner of the Family Bookstore

I trained my mind, refining my ability to recognize

this man (?) who would conduct a symphony

of slaughter while the world shattered, sure I would be sentient

to his origin before his first appearance onscreen.

It's not as clear as I hoped it would be, though. If this is really 
the first of the last days.

The Great Tribulation. The Last Battle. God's Wrath.

But I'm ready to figure this thing out. I have to believe

the year I spent in the stacks will count for something. I'm ready

for tomorrow to be worse than today. And the next

seven years to kill me and mine more likely than not. Because after -

AFTER the wounds of heaven mar the Earth to its core -

I will hear what "sounds like a great multitude,

like the roar of rushing waters and like loud

peals of thunder, shouting: Hallelujah!

For our Lord God Almighty reigns.

Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory!

For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready."