A
Prelude to Apocalpyse
by Phil Gibson
Smashwords
Edition
Copyright Phil Gibson, 2011
Illustrations
copyright Caroline Quin, 2011
Phil
Gibson Poetry
Phil's
Blog: The Garret
Smashwords
Edition, License Notes
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Table of Contents
A Prelude to Apocalypse is an introduction to my work and more specifically to my anthology of dark poetry, Apocalyptic Visions. By its very nature poetry is a subjective medium and as such one person's taste is no guarantee of another's.Therefore this short collection is presented as a representative sample to allow the reader to form their own opinion rather than rely on the views of others.
A figure of death
Looms over the land
A nuclear scythe
Is borne in his hand
Wearing a mantle
Of consuming fire
He lights for our world
A funeral pyre
I flee in terror
But find no escape
For all of this land
Shows signs of his rape
Where-ever I go
He is always there
Stripping the land
And leaving it bare
I hear his cruel laughter
A malicious sound
While his victims’ corpses
Are thick on the ground
He’s dealing out death
And pain on a whim
There can be no way
Of hiding from him
But now I am running
So desperate to hide
For I’ve glimpsed a truth
I cannot abide
The horror flows through me
For now I can see
There is no escape
This figure is me!
I have a dream, a fantasy
Where all men live in harmony
An end to pain and enmity
A new birth for humanity
Each day I wake reluctantly
And come back to reality
I look around in misery
And see the true insanity
A world ruled by brutality
Supported by complacency
We’re in the grip of tyranny
Choked by our own misanthropy
The masses in obscurity
Condemned to live in poverty
A life of harsh severity
The cruellest immorality
Each day a new atrocity
Will reach new depths of cruelty
We’re sinking into savagery
A slow death for humanity
Imagine, if you will, our world
As some great beast, in sleep it’s curled
Its blood, the rivers deep and long
Its bones, the mountains, proud and strong
Its organs, oceans and the seas
Its lungs, the forests, life they breathe
But as the beast in sleep does lie
It knows not it is doomed to die
For as it slumbers through the years
A tiny parasite appears
It quickly spreads across the beast
And on its life begins to feast
This infestation without sense
Unchecked it grows in virulence
And as the beast sleeps all the while
Pollutes its blood with poisons vile
That flow through hardened arteries
Into the organs of the seas
And still this pestilence was rife
It cut into the lungs of life
But as it ate into the bones
Leeching the minerals from the stones
The beast began to feel the pain
Too late it tried to stir again
With horror then the beast saw all
The carnage caused by pests so small
Like insects on its back they crawled
Like mighty nests their cities sprawled
Like worms they burrowed in its skin
It knew not where it could begin
Within the beast an anger burned
As fiery emotions churned
Erupting as a searing flood
That shook its bones and boiled its blood
The cities burned, the mountains fell
The beast unleashed the gates of hell
But when the smoke of fires cleared
The parasites again appeared
From holes where they had gone to hide
Their heads kept down, the storm to ride
And when the beast did see them there
Its anger died, it knew despair
And so the beast was filled with woe
It mourned itself, its tears did flow
And as it wept the waters rose
Inexorably drowning those
Who’d come to cause it so much pain
Now soon it would be cleansed again
The beast it saw and ceased to weep
Then settled right back down to sleep
Content the parasite was gone
It failed to notice there upon
A mountain stood a group of men
Who planned to start it all again
The charges are set
We’re ready to blast
There’s no need to worry
The mountain will last
This rubble is needed
For factory walls
We’ve no time to rest
Prosperity calls
Stoke up the furnace
Don’t let the fire die
Keep the coal coming
An endless supply
We must keep producing
There’s more fuel to burn
The darkness at noon
Is not our concern
There’s no time to rest
There’re more trees to fell
The more we cut down
The more we can sell
It’s all they are good for
They’re dead anyway
Soaked in pollution
To wither away
Send out the trawlers
With wall of death nets
There must be an hour
Before the sun sets
We have to work harder
The only solution
There’s less fish to catch
That’s man’s contribution
The pressure is mounting
Our profits are down
There’s no time for sleeping
Get up off the ground
There’s so little time left
We have to get on
Why is it so dark?
Where has our world gone?
Two eyes are still closed tightly
To the beauty of this earth
A face still glistens brightly
From the miracle of birth
Two eyes, a flickered movement
As a new life is unfurled
But the wonder of this moment
Is just wasted on this world
Two eyes begin to open
And in wonder gaze around
Youth’s bud begins to ripen
As those eyes grow big and round
Two eyes born out of innocence
See the world with rosey hue
Still blind to all the violence
And the evil that men do
Two eyes are filled with anger
As they open to the truth
The mirror holds a stranger
Something missing from their youth
Two eyes now disillusioned
And ashamed of their own kind
In a torment of confusion
Now they wish they were still blind
Two eyes have now grown cynical
Against this world of pain
They’ve reached and passed life’s pinnacle
And soon will close again
Two eyes are quickly dimming
And their light is fading fast
The world about is swimming
As they look into the past
Two eyes now close forever
At their owner’s final breath
In that face like wrinkled leather
Lying peacefully in death
*****
A collection of Dark Poetry exploring the shadowy side of human nature. If you have ever looked at the world around you and thought there was some-thing terribly wrong then you may connect with these poems. Written by one who is still an optimist despite knowing some-thing awful is going to happen!
Reviews
5 stars, Inspiring, 22 May 2011
By Miss E Formby
I am not one who normally enjoys mainstream poetry, but I absolutely love these poems. The way the author uses plays on words and descriptions allowed me to really imagine the concepts portrayed in the book. I really would take a chance on these poems I don't think you will be disappointed! My favourite poem of the set has to be 'Parasite' which I find haunting, thought provoking and thoroughly enjoyable all in equal measure.
Reviews from Fanstory.com (a poetry review site), listed by Fanstory username:
Donandvicki-
5 stars
This would do well in the book of Revelations, Dark, ominous and bone cold chilling. Don
Dustychange- 5 stars
Woah. What a beautiful vision~! Well, it's talking about something morbid and apocalyptic, but the way it's being expressed is beautiful.The cool thing about this work seems to be that it's sensually appealing. Besides that, the language used is also direct and thoughtful.Excellent work.
Magic
Wand- 5 stars
Your writing is very dark and sometimes disturbing. But mostly, it is honest. Not what we always see today. You have a natural talent to tell it like it is, no matter what.
Poetic
Friend- 5 stars
Wow, this is haunting. Definitley makes the reader want to continue reading the others. I will take a peep at your book synopsis after reviewing. I like your writing style.
Xylok- 5
stars
dude, killer poem with killer imagery and a killer ending; that's like a triple homicide via quill. the whole things full of vivid description and the internal word play and rhymes sound awesome when orated. nuclear scythe rocks. glimpsing a truth you cannot abide, intense! profound. this poem is awesome.
Table of contents
A Painfull truth
A Revelation
Apocalyptic Vision
Billboard Prophet
Childish Tears
Curtain Call
Genesis
God Save the Children
Hell on Earth
Hopeless Glory
Letter to Santa
Letter to the P.M
Listen, Do You Hear Them?
Lost
Mice or Men?
Morbid, Who Me?
Morbidity
New Life, Old Death
One Question, Lord
Parasite
Peace in Our Time(1992)
Poppy Petals
Prophet's Lament
Savage in a Suit
Shell-shocked
Terminal Case
The Candle
The Price of Prosperity
Tomorrow's Legacy
Two Eyes
Beyond the Mask
This collection offers a peek beyond the mask of the author. The glimpse is brief and partial; sometimes sad, sometimes funny, sometimes serious, sometimes whimsical but always candid. Look into my eye, it’s time to see what hides down that rabbit hole...
Reviews
A few reviews from Fanstory.com, a review website where writers gather to critique each other’s work (listed by fanstory.com username):
Cjvaugn – 5 stars
You caught
me from the first line to the last. Compelling and riveting emotion,
I liked how you draw us in and take us on the experience...
Take
care, CJ
mamonia – 5 stars
Wow! This
is some kind of powerful. You really got a rise out of me with the
description and imagery of words. Fantastic poetry showing the depth
of your feelings and creating a major impact on the reader.
Great
Snowbound – 5 stars
WOW
Dark,
demented, delicious. I love the imagery. You take us right into the
straight jacket...
SnowBound
The Jumper
I have out-lived my usefulness
Rejected to my loneliness
Discarded here upon the shelf
My only company, myself
It is a dreadful truth to see
To know that no-body wants me
Of this sad fact there is no doubt
Who’d want me now, I’m too worn out
Before me now my life is played
As I sit here with edges frayed
Each fibre of my being stretched
My misery in creases etched
Unravelling, I wonder why
It came to this, I start to cry
I long for peace in endless sleep
With eyes closed, off the cliff I leap
Born and raised in Devon, Phil has been an avid reader from a young age, developing an early taste for the writing of Edgar Alan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, Stephen King, John Wyndham and Tolkien. Began to dream of becoming a writer and first attempted to write a book at the age of 10.
After a 'satisfactory' but uneventful school career left him with no clear sense of direction Phil retreated into self-imposed exile at the southern tip of Cornwall where he spent a number of years living in the attic of an isolated bungalow. It was here that he first began to write poetry, inspired by political upheavals and environmental concerns.
A few years later Phil attempted to re-enter mainstream society, moving back to the city and starting a family. A decade later, after raising 2 awesome kids as a single father, he returned to education, studying Earth Sciences at Plymouth University.
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