SURVIVING THE APOCALYPSE
Ever since Parkland,
My parents have been waking up early
To see me before I catch the bus.
This is love in the apocalypse.
A couple months ago,
We didn’t know it was a drill.
I exchanged fearful glances with people I’ve never liked.
This is solidarity in the apocalypse.
The news tells us
Earth has ten years to live.
I say to Mom, “There go your grandkids.”
This is laughter in the apocalypse.
I always wondered how the people in the disaster movies could think they stood a chance.
But I’ve seen us rise to the occasion as the tides rise to our shores.
And if our city ever drowns,
Covered in gallons of our mistakes,
We will learn to swim.
This is surviving the apocalypse.
—from 2020 Rattle Young Poets Anthology
__________
Why do you like to write poetry?
Nina Evans: “As an all-around creative, I enjoy expressing myself through many different media, often using music, prose, and art as my outlets. For me, poetry can be difficult to use, because I am such a maximalist in nature. However, I love to write poetry because it becomes a challenge; I have to learn to work with words in a pared-down setting while still carrying my idea through the poem. This is often why my poems surround the largest anxieties, hopes, or emotions in my life, because those subjects flow the easiest into my writing.”
