Small Town Atheist

Hey Tristan,
Thanks for the heads up re this site. It provides a much better forum for atheist concerns than Gather alone. Sorry I haven't commented much on your writing. I've been more involved with literary projects, although my ongoing one is poems suggesting what really happened in those Bible stories. I attach one here FYI.

The One That Got Away


O my god! What am I going to tell her?
She sends me out for Nineveh oil
And I disappear for three days and nights.
--Oh my eyes are popping out of my head--
Would I had that olive oil right now.
I’d rub it into my throbbing temples…
Temple, that’s it! I went to the Temple to pray,
Got spaced on frankincense and myrrh,
And prayed for three nights and three days.
She might believe it; she’s got the faith.
Ah, but it would be too easy to check.
--Oh Yahweh, my aching head—
If she finds out about that boat from Spain,
With the flowing wine and dancing girls,
My sorry butt is fish guts.
Wait. I think I see how to turn the tide my way.
I fell off the Nineveh boat and into the bay…
Yes, yes, and a big fish swallowed me whole and took me away.
And I prayed and prayed—she’d never know—
Until Yahweh told the fish to let me go.
That’s a whale of a story, if I say so myself.
I may go down in history as Jonah,
Author of the greatest big fish story ever told!