Gary,

This poem IMO is along the lines of "and now I'm going to tell you
something" which is fine by me. I'm much more happy with that kind of thing
than most readers. However the thing told has to be excellent to make up for
the absence of poetic mechanisms and that's my worry here -  since most
atheists would not say that the flu virus has arisen by chance. Thanks to
Darwin et al there are alternative explanations.

However there is the germ of an idea in that:

"It took the simple complexity
of the influenza virus -
older than humankind,
yet so perfectly matched
to man's RNA

to be the perfect killer..."




is genuinely interesting (at least to me) and is just the kind of thing that
can expand the received content of poetry. Would it be possible to build
this into a poem without making it a concrete argument in favour of theism?
Just an idea, and it's your poem to adjust or not to adjust as you see fit.


BW

Colin


----- Original Message -----
From: "Gary Blankenship" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, July 29, 2004 5:21 PM
Subject: New: The Atheist Reconsiders


(of course, you know I'm reading about the flue outbreak of 1918)

The Atheist Reconsiders

Strings could not convince me
nor the Northern lights,
swans
or a baby's smile.

Gandhi did not persuade me
nor the Beatitudes,
Sarah's laughter
or Fannie's courage.

It took the simple complexity
of the influenza virus -
older than humankind,
yet so perfectly matched
to man's RNA

to be the perfect killer

This wonderful machine
could not be the result of chance,
even if the universe were 10,000
times its presumed age.


GO TO http://www.mindfirerenew.com/ THE BEST NEW ZINE ON THE WEB.
Issue 1 ready to read.    Poets for Peace.... ¡Poemas sí, balas no!