Undigested Jonah
by Jesse Keith Butler
Undigested Jonah by Jesse Keith Butler That time we tossed him overboard, We thought he was a goner. We thought we’d sent him to his Lord— The lashing deep took him and roared— We never thought he’d stand restored— Undigested Jonah! We never thought he’d rise to preach Repentance on that distant beach While we went drifting out of reach. We never thought of Nineveh. And all the stormclouds smeared—like they Were printed low on toner— Above a world of washed-out grey Where we’d been dropped along the way— A set-piece for the passion play Of resurrected Jonah. And, silent then, we summed the cost— Our craft torn up, our cargo tossed, Last hopes of navigation lost, We sailed into the morning. — He sank from sight. If someone tried To find the man by sonar They’d have no luck. Adrift inside That monstrous maw beneath the tide, He strapped in for a seasick ride— Undigested Jonah! And with him in her jaws, the dread Seabeast steered down her scaly head Toward the grasping oceanbed And the earth’s unshaken pillars. Leviathan was not the type To second-guess a donor. She would—if you believe the hype— Consume a prey of any stripe Until her gut began to gripe Just like it did with Jonah. The lump of indigestion curled Within her, underneath the world, Tormented her until she hurled Him out into the morning. — So he stomped off all slick with phlegm— A disaffected loner Sent forth—but surely not to them— The hated wayward lines of Shem— The worm that gnawed at his plant’s stem— They all disgusted Jonah. That city sprawled both wide and long, One hundred twenty thousand strong Who didn’t know their right from wrong And also many cattle. It seemed that somehow he’d become A prophet without honour. The town buzzed with a steady hum Of life that somehow left him numb Beneath a sky no fire fell from For undigested Jonah. And daylight shone out sharp and broad Upon the perfect and the flawed. In faith to his unfathomed God, He turned to face the morning.
Jesse Keith Butler is an Ottawa-based poet who recently won first prize in the ESU Formal Verse Contest. His poems have been published in a variety of journals, including Arc Poetry, New Verse Review, Dappled Things, Pulp Literature, and Blue Unicorn. His first book, The Living Law (Darkly Bright Press, 2024), is available wherever books are sold. Find him at www.jessekeithbutler.ca.
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