this is the end by Falon Willow (19, New Hampshire)*

it seems like all the ways 
the world could end have. 
sent my body screeching through 
a stop sign & here i am speared 
         into a volcanic sky unfolding 
                  clouds popping balloons of battery acid 
                           streets gushing sludge stuck to my knees ​

---

         apocalypse was the first word 
i learned to spell & now i trace it 
on the sides of collapsed buildings 
         cars gnashed to scraps practiced 
my feet are bare & barer by the second 
with no one left to tell me if my 
         not-killed body is forsaken or divine 

but what i do know is i taught myself 
to ride a bike. kept my own teeth off the pavement. 
                  i’ve never broken a bone. the day i 
melted, i watered myself until my ankles regrew. 
         i can walk for miles now. still can. through all the dead. for days & days 
& days.

​