Drew Pisarra
Apocalypse
What if the trees have started to burn
‘cause they’re tired of breathing polluted air?
What if the fish floated up in the churn –
survival, no longer their sole concern?
What would it take to make you care?
What if the houseplants started to burn
so that each flowerpot resembled an urn?
Must the burning take place everywhere?
And alongside the fish floating up in the churn,
must the whales stop singing as their songs turn
into smoke-rings and forsaken bubbled air?
What if everything started to burn?
What if I self-combusted? Would you then discern
that something’s gone horribly wrong
with us? What if we too end up in the churn?
What if it’s now too late for us to learn
the right answer to this questionnaire.
The rhymes have all gone awry
in this song, this prayer, whatever it is.
Originally published at Unlikely Stories in March 2026.
Drew Pisarra is the author of two sonnet collections, Periodic Boyfriends and Infinity Standing Up; two short story collections, You're Pretty Gay and Publick Spanking; and two radio plays, The Strange Case of Nick M. and Price in Purgatory.