Billy Idol at the End of the World
It’s chaos right now and the people around me know it.
They start farms and google how to manufacture gasoline.
They buy astronaut food that will keep for years
if they don’t have to eat it, in which case
they give themselves seven months, tops.
They practice starting the generators
and they’ve learned to cut their own hair.
These are the skills we’ll need
when we have to depend on ourselves to survive.
I do not have these skills. I do have a generator,
but it’s in the weird outdoor building,
probably crawling with spiders, and honestly
I’m more likely to spend the last of my money
on fast food and a hotel room so I can die
in comfort, but that’s just me. I don’t have a cellar
but in my family, we start preparing
for the end of the world at birth. It just looks
a little different than trying to stay alive so much.
Maybe that’s why I’m relatively sturdy about this.
Maybe that’s why I’m so calm by comparison.
Or maybe I’m in denial and it’s really going to suck,
it’s hard to say. All I know is I need to feel okay
or I might forget what okay feels like.
So if you need me, I’ll be online
posting that on my way to work today
one of my Two Songs I Will Always Crank Up
and Roll the Windows Down For came on –
for me it’s Rebel Yell. White Wedding.
Billy Idol at 50 mph makes me feel like I’m alright.
What does that for you?
9 thoughts on "Billy Idol at the End of the World"
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Love it !
Oh my God. What a great poem about a great topic. Maybe the topic is a bummer but to write about it is brilliant.
PS. I love the voice and tone of this poem.
Funniest doomsday poem ever.
Yes you nailed this topic beautifully!
I needed this levity today. I love the lines “we start preparing/for the end of the world at birth. It just looks/a little different than trying to stay alive so much.” And I love how the speaker is “sturdy.” Makes me want to be sturdy, too.
I love this rollicking, scrambling for balance and need a shot of Billy Idol snarl to do it. Those songs do the same thing for me, 80s kid.
80s FTW!
it might as well have been a journal entry at this point. Thank you all!