"The Last Day of Pompeii" by Karl Drullov‘Upon the Pompeii Exhibition at the National Gallery’ by David Essex The Society March 8, 2017 Culture, Poetry or Mutatis Mutandis The mode of most catastrophe is gradually, then suddenly. Time slowly ratchets up the stress in states that tend to stay at rest until some last-straw catalyst, the tumblers’ incremental twist allows locked plates at last to shift; the temblored continental drift frees the long pent-up potential to manifest its exponential lust for sudden sweeping change, the sunken city, the upthrust range. All is fine, then, before you know it the status quo’s gone Krakatoa. God and Darwin both agree that change, though all inconstancy, is the world’s one certainty, for what is being but becoming something else, else it become nothing? David Essex has a B.A and an M.A from William and Mary, and an M.F.A. from Iowa Writer’s Workshop. He has tended bar, tied re-bar, professed English and written for television. Currently he is Curatorial Assistant for Renaissance Paintings at the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC. His poems have appeared in American Poetry Review, Verse, Jacaranda Review and other literary journals. Views expressed by individual poets and writers on this website and by commenters do not represent the views of the entire Society. The comments section on regular posts is meant to be a place for civil and fruitful discussion. Pseudonyms are discouraged. The individual poet or writer featured in a post has the ability to remove any or all comments by emailing submissions@ classicalpoets.org with the details and under the subject title “Remove Comment.” Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Leave a Reply Cancel ReplyYour email address will not be published.CommentName* Email* Website Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.