"When the Edges Come Home": a Collection of Poems About the End of the World Told Through the Lens of the Prophet Zephaniah

By Corvyn Appleby

An imploding sun. A bird's nest knocked out of its tree. A panic attack in the middle of a power outage. A spiraling tower made of diamonds, stretching into the sky. A married couple splitting up in a public, no-holds-barred fight.

 

This collection of thirty poems explores the idea of the apocalypse through an analysis of the book of Zephaniah, as found in the Hebrew Bible. What do we mean when we talk about "the end of the world"? Why are we scared of the idea of doomsday? And in a social order defined by inequality and exploitation, what if one person's apocalypse is another person's liberation?

 

Thousands of years ago, the message of Zephaniah was that something big was coming, something that would shift the status quo completely - in a world of mounting anxiety, these poems try to capture that feeling in a modern, vital way; walking on the tightrope between hopeful and horrified the whole way through.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Corvyn Appleby
• Release date: May 16, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393136163

Book preview

when the edges come home

a collection of poems about the end of the world

through the prophecy of Zephaniah

written by corvyn appleby

(copyright 2020 corvyn appleby)

table of contents

acknowledgments of gratitude

preface

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chapter one: the rift

cemetery (1:2)

hunter (1:3)

piercing (1:4)

idolatry (1:5)

nonbeliever (1:6)

blackout (1:7)

royalty (1:8)

store (1:11)

divorce (1:13)

screech (1:14)

eclipse (1:15)

deconstruct (1:17)

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chapter two: the sift

kindling (2:1)

predawn (2:2)

exception (2:3)

wives (2:4)

repurpose (2:6)

restoration (2:7)

desert (2:13)

birds (2:14)

unsinkable (2:15)

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chapter three: the shift

predators (3:3)

light (3:5)

cathedral (3:6)

example (3:7)

pyromania (3:8)

moving (3:11)

constants (3:12-13)

song (3:14)

resolution (3:19-20)

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postmortem

about the author

acknowledgements of gratitude

In no particular order:

Thank you to my mother for instilling within me a desire to learn more about the world, a love for words, and a passion for using them effectively.

Thank you to Reverend Katherine Osier for being a spiritual guide in my formative years, and for fueling my exploration of religious texts with your wonderful tendency to ask frustrating questions.

Thank you to Dr. Katherine Orr, for reigniting a love for poetry that I had forgotten within myself for much too long a time.

Thank you to Rabbi Michael Ross, for directly encouraging me to pursue this project, for changing the way I look at scripture and prophecy, and for helping guide this series to its completion.

Thank you to Joy Ladin, whose poetry helped inspire the skeletal shape of these pieces, and whose poetry continues to inspire me.

Thank you to Adele Berlin, whose analysis of, and commentary on, the book of Zephaniah in the Anchor Bible series helped immensely to explore this text.

Thank you to my dear friend, Eden Breinich – they made the cover for this book, and it’s phenomenal.

Thanks to Katy Bilek, for the headshot found at the back of this book. Her photography skills make me feel like the belle of the ball.

Thanks to Bree Alexandra Dzubay – who I promised would receive a free copy of the first book I ever publish. I keep my promises.

Thanks, finally, to you, the person reading this book. I made this for you, after all.