poetry by jessica powers

had a dream about the end of the world

and everyone went downtown to dance 
i remember seeing faces not real
in waking life but here in my apocalypse dream 
they are college friends and people i hadn’t seen in years
the whole sky was pink and everyone was smiling, 
music playing from somewhere indistinguishable as ashes fell
it was like dusk and morning converging at once 
like something out of a movie we waited for our end
a voice said we only had an hour and 
everyone was frantic with their joy 
touching each other arms like ribbons flowing in the wind
bodies swaying and mouths chattering and laughing and 
trying to remember what it felt like to be alive 
it was a time between life and death
something beautiful in our shared ending 
i remember riding a bike on top of water and 
saying to a friend that i hope my life just continues 
after death as if my body never really ended 
i remember laying on the ground with my friends and 
falling asleep

Jessica Powers is a poet and writer living in Chicago. Her work has appeared in Goat's Milk Magazine, Hair Trigger, and Ransack Press. She is currently writing in her phone notes and watching too much TV from the 90s and early 2000s.