Beautiful Apocalypse, A Visual Poem

Imagining a different kind of ending for the world.

Today, I am presenting a short video narration of my poem, “Closer, As We Know It,” a piece that imagines what it would be like if we had a better apocalypse than the one we’re currently heading towards.

This is just one piece of an ongoing series of visual interpretations of poetic works. More to come (with some fun collaborations in store!)

This video was first shown at the 9th Upham Film Festival. You can check out the other festival submissions and see their archives at uphamfilmfest.com

The poem:

                                              Closer, As We Know It

          I never thought the end of the world would be this beautiful.

          people used to picture nuclear infernos
          and hellish roiling landscapes vaporizing flesh 
          and incinerating vast swaths of forestland,

          but as it all began 
          I stood out on the western peaks 
          and was  enveloped by brilliant flashes of green light illuminating the night, 
          firing off one after the other in silent spectacle, 
          white hot in the center and radiating out to deep emerald on the edges, 
          we called it the monochromatic fireworks show,

          and in the morning 
          I woke up to the videos of sandstorms in the valley, 
          immense, spiring,  unbelievable towers, 
          dark walls of fury swallowing whole towns and turning the sun a muted red,

          in some places the sea foam became an almost fluorescent orange 
          that would dance with the wind like cotton burned to embers,

          and the wonderful sky! 
          the clouds became churning monoliths and 
          moved at such a pace I had never seen,
          dropping buckets of corrosive liquid and peeling 
          the protective paint off of radio towers,
          the sky’s color transformed to shocking effect,
          it was a radiant purple at the height of the day, 
          shifting to green towards night

          and the sound! 
          as the air grew thin, the insects died, 
          the giant machines stopped whirling, 
          a penetrating silence set in, 
          our breaths became shattering glass, 
          our ears turned in on themselves and amplified our blood 
          flowing through our bodies, 
          our heartbeats sounded like monsters coming to get us

          and amongst all the cries of anguish, 
          the incredible loss of humanity, 
          the devastation of those who could not possibly have foreseen their fates, 
          no one dared speak of the terrifying beauty of it all, 
          the otherworldly madness all around us, 
          the awe we felt at the insatiable forces trumpeting our doom, 
          the astonishing sights to go out and behold amongst groups of friends 
          as we awaited our absolution

          I had never before felt so taken care of,
          so unified and under control,
          than when we saw the end coming for us all

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