REGURGITANT JONAHDOX
In the dark, depths of bellies and holds of ships
truths of uncertainty are the only waters on which to sail.
For the story of Jonah is an absurdity where
truths of uncertainty are the only waters on which to sail.
For the story of Jonah is an absurdity where
the revealing of unknowing is the upchucked truth.
A silent prophet runs away from a wind-hurling God
Is Jonah resistant, or is God? For God is revealed as a
nonsensical changing of the changeless One,
who wants to proclaim wickedness of humans, then compassion for the living!?
who wants to proclaim wickedness of humans, then compassion for the living!?
Such ambiguity gives reason again and again to desire
the putrid belly of a fish, where darkness calms,
and oh to be centered in the body of such a grand creature-
in the gut of intuition; perhaps fish are gifts to be inside of…
and oh to be centered in the body of such a grand creature-
in the gut of intuition; perhaps fish are gifts to be inside of…
But then Jonah is let out, not to be birthed, but to be
spewed, vomited…Provisions of fish given and why?
Only to be transformed into regurgitant projectiles..
I’d rather stay in slime..
I’d rather stay in slime..
But I am Jonah, the only one in the story who is given a name!
I am called, and the earth and its surroundings respond to me, don’t you see?
I am called, and the earth and its surroundings respond to me, don’t you see?
I sleep during storms because I am confident, but not so is the
God of annoyance by Ninevites, this so-called God who demands me
to employ the power that God is supposed to hold…
Were it not already in God’s possession?
Or has God’s absence only made my story true-
as the named one, Jonah: wisdom identified?
Perhaps Jonah is God and God is Jonah.
Maybe Jonah is you, where disobedience is divine,
where sleep is sacred, where bowels of fish mirror visceral experiences-
providing new lands and destinations…where emotions are real,
where your insistence on the absurdities of life’s leadings
make God the one who changes. Can God be changed?
…You, the one with identity, you, the Jonah who reminds God
by your devious wit, creating a God who is worthy to believe..
because you have a name…
“Should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city,
in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons
who do not know their right hand from their left and also many animals?”
This God asks. And of course Jonah silently knows, hidden under his anger.
The named one Jonah, in a revered recalcitrance
finally creates the God of compassion worthy to be known…
And all along you thought Jonah was the one who didn’t get it.
For is it not good to question what we have been told?
And so Jonah’s story, which is our story, is told,
from pendulums of emotions, from daring adventures
and risk taking endeavors where the divinity of humanity is affirmed.
Embrace the absurdity! Let us all run away with wind-hurls,
travel the seas, go to the depths of fish-gutsy questions and rebelliousness,
spewed onto lands where the two most powerful words are voiced
by the least expected ones, those Ninevites who got it right when they said,
“Who knows?”
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