I have begun to feel the universe winding down inside of me,
the gears of my bones creaking, cracking, and crumbling into dust.
My veins and arteries collapsing like the horses of the sun exhausted at day’s end,
the blood rushing out, like waters broken of their barriers,
into the underground sewer system of my body, the seams of my skin hiding
the hunger of the black hole gestating and expanding in silence
across the hollow core of my curdling life force, like the clown face masking
the wasting features of a syphilitic whore.

My lips have dried and split open like trenches littered with limbs blown away by IEDs.
My mouth remains unkissed, my jaw constantly stiffening,
unmoved from lack of pleasure, my waning oral desire transferred to
and translated on the anodyne verbal space of the blank page.
My hair has thinned and done a disappearing act, like that of a cancer patient,
but I have no disease to offer as an excuse, just this grotesque parade
of the natural harvest of decay.

If man is a microcosm of the cosmos, then this is my apocalypse.

Dominick Montalto is founder of A Poet's Perspective, a blog featuring biweekly blog posts on a variety of topics, primarily geared toward writers and those interested in getting their work published, including weekly reviews on Wednesdays. The blog features an Editorial and Writing Services page where readers can take a look at the type of services Dominick offers, and also has a variety of his previously published poetry and essays.