First, we’re expelled from the garden, then 
slavery, the ten plagues beginning your disaster
is my miracle (“and so the Red Sea rose up”), 
Pompeii leaving a crusty museum, the Black 
Death sweeping Europe under its rug of sputum 
and pus, the ocean’s white tooth rising from
its dark gums to crack the Titanic, then Cindy 
ditching me when I was seventeen and not 
ready for ditching, Chernobyl and Bhopal,
all quiet on the balmy beaches of Phuket,
Haiti tossed into the blender, hurricanes and 
quakes, and then the entire menu of prophesies 
laid out like a buffet, Nostradamus, the Aztecs, 
the Doom-Man handing out leaflets at 41st and 
Avenue of the Americas, Armageddon Online, 
my best friend’s diagnosis like a death sentence 
(hell, it IS a death sentence), my son’s marriage, 
the mess arising from the over-reach of power, 
the knock on the door, the nervous soldiers, 
everything we know changing in an instant.