Tag Archives: mormonism

Damian Balassone, ‘The Mormon and the Mermaid’

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Wounded and winded
by the wind and the waves,
he scratches her name in the sand,
her love is rescinded,
she hides in the caves
where the water caresses the land;
he sings her name in spite of his distress,
and fashions beauty out of loneliness.

*****

Damian Balassone writes: “With regards to the poem, I have no connection to either Mormons or mermaids – it’s about polar opposites.  I think the last line came first.  He doesn’t get the girl, but he gets the poem.”

‘The Mormon and the Mermaid’ was first published in the Shot Glass Journal.

Damian Balassone is the author of four books, including the forthcoming collection of short poems and epigrams Love is a Weird Cat and the children’s book Here, Bear and Everywhere. You can read more here.

“the Other Side of the Tunnel” by ihave3kids is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

Poem: “Religions”

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If it’s Sunday, maybe I should post a religious poem… Of course, the trouble is my

Newgrange

Newgrange – prehistoric Irish site aligned with the winter solstice

ambivalence about religion. I side with US statesman and orator Henry Clay: “All religions united with government are more or less inimical to liberty. All, separated from government, are compatible with liberty.” And if there’s a difference between history and religion, I’ll take history any time.

So this one was originally published in Snakeskin, August 2016…

Religions

Judaism

Genocide in Canaan
Gave God’s land to the Jews;
But genocides in other lands
Are Yahweh’s big taboos.

Buddhism

All life is suffering,
Yes, all our life is pain;
Then I must be a masochist –
I’d love to live again.

Norse religion

The first gods killed a giant,
From his skull to make
The sky, and mountains from his bones –
What lies! No talking snake?!

Christianity

Jesus wasn’t Jewish
And his killers weren’t from Caesar;
At least, so Paul said after
An epileptic seizure.

Islam

There is no God but One,
Perfect in every way;
All creatures do His unknown will –
So there’s no need to pray.

Mormonism

To teenage Joseph Smith
An angel showed gold plates
On which he read ‘Jesus Was Here’ –
It got him lots of dates.

Modern Paganism

Pretentious modern pagans
Confused by mystic spoof
Have got no clue what Stonehenge was
With its old Newgrange roof.

Atheism

I don’t see gods on clouds,
I don’t hear angels sing;
There’s just one question bothers me –
How come there’s anything?

About the use of form here: flippant comments, as in the above poem, are well served by simple quatrains with a bit of bounce to them. Iambics are not in themselves bouncy, but in this pattern of 3 feet, 3 feet, 4 feet, 3 feet they work fine. There’s not a lot of thought in any of the verses, just a set-up and a quick jab. The form works well for its purpose.