Armageddon’s Arrival – prosery

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr

 

Armageddon’s Arrival

I drift down the middle of the river, my paddle in the water only when necessary to navigate past hazards. And oh, are there hazards. Surrounded by the past, ablaze on the shores beside me and floating on the current that carries me, with little prospect for the future, my life is little more than the clothes on my back and as bleak as the landscape of death surrounding me.

Of what matter are the details that led to this tragic moment? One nation acted out of a desire to secure precious resources, another responded, and an Armageddon foretold through the ages has finally come to pass.

In the glow of the fires that surround me, everything is cloaked in the haze of smoke, and navigation becomes more difficult as dusk approaches. A red moon rides on the humps of the low river hills.

This bit of flash fiction is my response to Jazzing It up on Prosery Monday, presented by Lillian at dVerse ~ Poets Pub. With Prosery, the challenge is to write a piece of flash fiction with a 144-word limit. Included in the bit of prose is to be a complete line from a poem. For this prompt, the line to be included is “a red moon rides on the humps of the low river hills” from Carl Sandburg’s “Jazz Fantasia”. My flash fiction also meets the additional challenge of hitting the 144-word mark, exactly. Other entries can be read here.

29 thoughts on “Armageddon’s Arrival – prosery”

  2. Oh you’ve placed me, the reader, right in the middle of a disaster indeed. I’m reminded of the horrible forest fires in Australia and the koalas succombing – no where to go. This Covid-age has us feeling like there is danger everywhere we turn. Yes….paddling as fast as we can….and we see the red moon rising. Omen?

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  10. You’ve woven a very vivid image into my mind with this, especially since I know you’re out on the river in the kayak so much ordinarily. To add Armageddon to that normally bucolic image is quite upsetting 😦

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