Cast A Mere Apocalypse

by Kevin Hauger

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                                           The griffin descended

                            Throwing its lionheft across hundreds of miles

                Wagering its eaglescreech against our warsong, soundwave shattering

Our will       my will       please my lord, surrender

My calciform rattled before each griffin claw

Tearing the soil, it rent The Name Tree

It resolved and mine was broken

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Bodies are suspended by ancient forces

A person holds the universe at shankpoint: “Bend, that I should exist”

We are only bodies now, scorched, bloated

 

The Name Tree plumed and plummeting

Splintered past the battlegrounds I remember

A prayer streaming out of me

                If I die before I drown, I’ll not have bent the knee

                I saw the blazing mushroom, now I’m glad I cannot see

It sought the final root in each face—

They are only bodies now I lay

             Wasted by my kindred     in my homes     my fibrous remains

                           Dusting the nation

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Every particle    of us shadowed on the ruins

Every body waterlogged, still mourned in the halls                 

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Red forms wrestle oblivion on the flags

Oblivion is white and righteous

And red flashes against it

On the unpeopled flags

Gloves tearing the flags

Polyester talons tearing

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m y f i b r o u s r e m a i n s

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No one imagines the griffin’s mass while it traces K-N-E-E-L

In the clouds      majestic     lazy

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My branded eyelids

Another cloud I do not forget

The griffin’s horror

I clench the throaty universe: “I lived      the terrible griffin      I live”