Sunday, 3 May 2026

One Poem by Noah Berlatsky

 






Zeus Vs. Jehovah Big Boss Battle

 

The Greek gods are horrible and stupid.

They have petty arguments about who they should kill

and then they just kill everybody.

They turn into swans or birds or fountains and rape.

They blind some poor somebody for not praising them enough.

They’re almost worse than people.

 

And then along comes the one true god

who is all knowing and all powerful and all good,

except for making the deal with the devil to torture

that faithful schmuck as a test.

And roasting people in hell for eternity

on obscure pretexts.

 

Supposedly it’s a philosophical advance

to believe in one god who allows evil

for reasons we can’t understand

rather than believing in a lot of gods

who do evil because they’re like people.

 

Is it more foolish to worship ourselves

torturing ourselves, or to worship ourselves

pretending not to be ourselves

torturing ourselves—

or to worship nothing

and torture ourselves just the same?

 

Of course,

the gods don’t answer.

Unless mockery is an answer.






Noah Berlatsky (he/him) is a freelance writer in Chicago. His full-length collections are Not Akhmatova (Ben Yehuda Press, 2024), Gnarly Thumbs (Anxiety Press, 2025), Meaning Is Embarrassing (Ranger, 2025) and Brevity (Nun Prophet, 2025).




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