A Poem by Amit Majmudar

Apocalypse Shopping List

Lead-lined gonad-guards.
Lysol (radiation sickness causes killer runs).
Breadboxes, to bury stillbirths.
Flare guns, glue guns, gun guns.
Marijuana brownies for the burn units.
Ersatz shrouds (viz., bedsheets, towels, sails).
Triple-earwig-pincer Biohazard labels.
Fun Size Snickers Not Labeled for Individual Sale
But good to barter in a pinch.
Amputation pails.
Seeing-eye dogs bunker-kenneled in Kennebunkport, Maine,
To jog the flash-blind through uranium rain.
Astronaut ice cream for the bedbound.
Catheters (various calibers).
Lice combs to harvest protein.
Steri-strips.
Spike strips.
Benadryl, good for baby’s colic or mommy’s hives.
Teriyaki turkey jerky.
Paperback copies of Slaughterhouse-Five.
Bullhorns for the water rioters.
Firehoses for the riot police.
Wooden stakes, because you never know.
Four-ounce jars of Fleischmann’s yeast.
Gallon jugs of Zen.
Rabbit traps, for the mice of the future.
Bear traps, for the men.

Amit Majmudar’s most recent book of poems, Dothead, was published by Knopf. Godsong, his verse translation from Sanskrit of the Bhagavad Gita, is forthcoming in 2018.

The Poetry Section is edited by Mark Bibbins.