After the Apocalypse

Summary

The poem "After the Apocalypse" depicts nature reclaiming a post-human world through vivid imagery.

Abstract

"After the Apocalypse" is a poem that portrays a world where human civilization has collapsed and nature has begun to heal. Concrete from decaying freeways transforms into sand dunes, while the remnants of technology succumb to the relentless forces of nature. The wind carries the sound of desert storms, symbolizing the dismantling of human constructs and the erosion of once-mighty machines. Amid this desolation, life perseveres as flora emerges from beneath the rubble, defying the legacy of human waste. The poem suggests a cycle of renewal as plants reach for the light, overcoming the shadows of a fallen society to touch the sun.

Opinions

Nature is depicted as resilient and persistent, able to thrive in the remnants of a human-made world.
The poem reflects a critical view of humanity's impact on the planet, with the 'waste of human discards' suggesting environmental degradation.
The imagery of water as a 'portal of rainfall' and a catalyst for 'a reckoning focused on renewal' implies a redemptive quality to nature's reclamation process.
There is an underlying hope for regeneration and the idea that life, particularly plant life, will endure and flourish even in the aftermath of societal collapse.
The poem may be commenting on the transient nature of human achievements and the enduring power of the natural world.

A poem

Concrete precipitates out of freeway overpasses, creating sand dunes from eroding metal shells of forgotten transportation. Listen to the khamsin howl — desert grit rolling down, breaking levers, gears, pitted hulls abandoned before the winds reversed. See with ancient tar eyes bones sunken beneath a hard and frozen crust, and the sudden cascade — disintegration released in water, ticking drops of passage, portals of rainfall, a reckoning focused on renewal — each seed, desire sprawled through a waste of human discards. Between rotted tire treads, greenness yawns a leafy mouth, stretching as he wakes and climbs from brown mother, the shadows of defeat cast behind. Light filters through the flood, coaxing to the heights of men — and his siblings touch the sun.