Tag: Poetry

Blogs

From Back Cover of When the Seventh Trumpet Sounds by Matt Harris

Matt Harris, author and owner of thepoetspoint.com

When the Seventh Trumpet Sounds is a modern day mini-epic piece that combines elements of both poetry and fiction. The poem weaves together a dystopian narrative of what society might look like in the last days on planet earth. As the story unfolds through the eyes of the poem’s speaker, who waits in a lengthy line trudging toward martyrdom at the guillotine, other colorful characters join the plot to move the action along, like for instance, the demented executioner, Mal-War, and the clueless pastor, Dr. Haywood Stubble.

Although the poem builds on end-time prophetic tropes from the past, this futuristic rendering of them takes a different pathway than many of the popular ones today based on pre-tribulation rapture theology. With that in mind, the title of this book gives a hint as to where the narrow pathway of the poem leads. When the Seventh Trumpet Sounds is a blast from the future that will help enlighten, encourage, and educate its readers to look beyond our temporal world to the eternal one—where every person in the human race now waits in a lengthy line to enter.

Blogs

A Little Bit bout “The Last Thing I Ever Saw Out There”

Matt Harris, author and owner of thepoetspoint.com

I was struck with the idea to write my poem, “The Last Thing I Ever Saw Out There,” while listening to Molly Burke’s memoir, titled It’s Not What It Looks Like. In her book, Molly, a popular YouTuber, tells about her experience going blind from an incurable eye disease called Retinitis Pigmentosa, RP for short. You should check it out. It is very informative. I could relate to much of what Molly wrote about RP because I, too, live with the disease in my own life. Although RP has its own signature symptoms, such as tunnel vision, night blindness, and sensitivity to sunlight, no one can ever tell us when complete blindness will occur—if indeed it ever does. Some people with RP, for instance, still drive at age 60, others like Molly go blind at an early age, while others like myself go blind later in life. Nonetheless, for those with RP who still retain some sight, the prospect of going completely blind still always lurks in the shadows.

In Molly’s memoir, she answers an interesting question someone had asked her: “Do you remember the last thing you saw before you went blind?” At that point, I paused her book and began to ponder that question. I wondered if the answer to it might depend on if one went blind gradually over the course of several, or many, years or lost it instantaneously, such as in an automobile accident. That’s when the title for my poem came to me. I then hit play, finished Molly’s book; and the next day got busy writing, “The Last Thing I Ever Saw Out There.”