Poetry Corner: JONAH AND THE WHALE


Introducing a new series of poems by Julian Matthews. Julian is a writer and Pushcart-nominated poet published in The American Journal of Poetry, Autumn Sky Poetry Daily, Borderless Journal, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, Dream Catcher Magazine, Live Encounters Magazine, Lothlorien Poetry Journal and The New Verse News, among others. He is a mixed-race minority from Malaysia and lived in Ipoh for seven years. Currently based in Petaling Jaya, he is a media trainer and consultant for senior management of multinationals on Effective Media Relations, Social Media and Crisis Communications. He was formerly a journalist with The Star and Nikkei Business Publications Inc
Link: https://linktr.ee/julianmatthews
By Julian Matthews
Jonah:
It was like being in a sacred cow’s belly,
dark, wet and squishy, the errors
of my judgement all caught up with me,
a blubbering idiot refusing to play
prophet, resigned to my fate as
whalebait
The Whale:
I have no taste for human communion
Of what nutritious value have you
compared to krill? I’d rather suck
on a dill–three days of you in me
is all I can take, then I’m spitting you
out and sending god the scaling bill
First published in “Words on the Wire 2” anthology of the Chapter One writers group, edited by Sue Hill and Bob Walton of The Write Box and Super Culture, Britain.