Atopic Catastrophic
Kathleen A. Lawrence
Countdown.
The stars were beating, pulsating, bleeding
Whole constellations ragged, hemorrhaging
Coughing, spitting, writhing with penetrating
Pain and growing fear of planets divorcing.
As greedy pirates of celestial skies attacked
Marauding with fury, invading hemispheres
Forcing rings to spiral away, hurling febrile
Meteors like fiery missiles across infinite sky.
Orbits were collapsing and gravity destroyed
Stripping tandem moons from their partners
As man, alien, machine, and creature erupted
In battle putting Time and Universe asunder.
Aftermath.
The galaxies awakened hanging hopelessly
No longer tethered to the sparkling heavens
But instead, a torn black curtain with lights
Barely flickering, the air hot, toxic and dead.
After evil shot like a meteor through space
The atmosphere was a dank, murky swamp
Cluttered, bleak with lifeless masses of rock,
Debris, splattered elements and inert gas.
