Doomsday (1982)

Stacks of burlap in the basement seven bags high:

soybean, rice, corn seed;

cans of peaches, peas, carrots and green beans,

enough to feed Gideon’s army.

Gideon, we learned in Sunday School,

gathered a ragtag crew of three-hundred Israelites

on God’s instruction to slay the Mideonite army.

Mother grimaces.  “Talk to your father,” she says.

At supper we eat boiled soybeans

with Ezekiel bread and butter.

The old man opines on the health benefits of soy

and its utility as a righteous food source.

The meat of the field, did you know,

is a supernatural antioxidant blessed with protein,

vitamins and minerals?

We are told that dried soybean, stored properly,

will retain its nutritional value long enough

to survive an apocalypse.

I am twelve-years-old in ’82 

and the end of the world sounds like a video-game ending

where the protagonist expires 

in a whirling puff of smoke only to discover himself

reborn into a dazzling, unspoiled universe.

In father’s game, global war seizes planet earth

followed by a return of the angry, Old Testament god

hurling fire and brimstone down upon 

an ungrateful creation.

“Do not fear,” the old man says, drawing us to him.  

“God’s chosen will be spared his wrath

and rewarded with riches in heaven.”

Gideon was also chosen,

and for his subservience rewarded as a hero of faith; 

seventy sons were bestowed upon him

from the many women he took as wives.

Yet, Gideon petitioned divine intervention

before signing on to the plan ─ three miracles

he required as proof of God’s intent.

I required only one:

  Dear Heavenly Father, hear my prayer.

Your holy scripture declares that to those 

who ask it will be given … I humbly ask 

that you demonstrate the truth of your power 

by turning these boiled soybeans into 

macaroni and cheese.  Amen.

~ Thomas

**First published in Hole In The Head Review