Little Apocalypse

         This whole poem is personifying (if that's a word...?) the life of the smaller things that we don't really notice, and then making their lives and world just as important as ours and even able to relate to. I thought it was interesting that the title and many things throughout the poem contradict each other. The most widely known definition for apocalypse is the end of the world- originating from Christianity- so obviously that's not a "little" event.This could signify that these worlds are destroyed on a daily basis by humans, the fire and clear-out could be referring to human's "bug bombs" and sprays. It's little because it's so insignificant as us, but still an apocalypse to those species. The author also says that butterflies are out on patrol, which butterflies are usually known for being a delicate non-harmful insect, and many more examples. I was confused by the last line, but when I looked up the four horses of the apocalypse I found out it was in the bible, which really pulled the poem together and I made sense of it all. The four horses are signifying conquest, war, famine, and death. Each of the butterfly, ant, dung beetle, and robin are referring to one of the horses. Without this background knowledge I didn't really find this poem that interesting, but after piecing it all together I really enjoyed it!