One (Sarah Crossan)

Preparing for an Apocalypse

A hurricane threatens

the East Coast

and we are sent home early from school.

The weather reporters warn that

the storm will bring

flooding and power outages,

so we prepare our

ground floor apartment

for an apocalypse.

Dad clears the patio,

puts everything in the hall,

Mom piles sandbags

by the backyard doors,

and Grammie sends Dragon to the store

for canned fruit and toilet paper,

then makes Tippi and me

fill the tub and every jug we own

with water

just in case.

Maybe I should be worried,

but I’m just disappointed

that the weather is stopping us

from being at The Church with Yasmeen and Jon

where I feel

free to breathe.

‘Can we go to the waterfront?’

Dragon asks,

and Dad barks back an angry

‘No,

it’s dangerous, dammit.’

Maybe he’s trying to be caring,

but he has a crappy way of showing it.

And so with nothing else to do

we watch out the window

with Dragon

and wait for the

great tide

and furious winds

to devour our city.