The Patron Saint of Dinosaurs

Tyrell: all of this is academic. You were made as well as we could make you.
Batty: But not to last.
Tyrell: The light that burns twice as bright burns for half as long - and you have burned so very, very brightly, Roy. Look at you, you're the prodigal son; you're quite a prize.
Batty: I've done... questionable things.
Tyrell: Also extraodinary things; revel in your time.
Batty: Nothing the God of biomechanics wouldn't let you into heaven for.
Blade Runner (1982)

If no God protects me
from things that devastate me,
what can I conclude?
Is God a sadist,
testing me
from time to time
with pain,
and when I
feel good about myself,
something out of nowhere
cuts my legs off.
Why? Is there a God?
Certainly not someone
who doesn't wish for me to not suffer.
All I see
is myself
with the help of some friends
climbing out of this hole.
Where was God then?
Who was the patron saint of the dinosaurs
by the way?
Obviously he or she
didn't get concerned enough
or God forgot the cries
of those dying raptors
and concentrated on humans instead.
What about those humans?
The greatest creation of God?
Made in the image of God?
Rapists? Serial killers?
Somehow the Creator
escapes the blame
for His creation
even though
His creation
is less than perfect.
So is there a God?
What if no one is there?
What if we opened the door
to the pilot's cabin and found no one sitting at the controls,
just a programmed set of instructions?
What would we do then?
Get off the plane?
Or could we?
What a day of reckoning that would be.
A Day of Judgment indeed.

Originally from Bandung, Indonesia, Jean Jones received a BA in English in 1986 from UNC-Wilmington, and an MFA in Creative Writing: Poetry in 1988 from Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. Jean currently teaches Basic Skills at Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington, North Carolina. He has had two books of poetry published by St. Andrews Press from St Andrews College, North Carolina; the most recent, "Birds of Djakarta", was released in 2008. Together with his friend and fellow poet Scott Urban, Jean Jones has had a brand new book of poems published by a brand new Wilmington, North Carolina publisher called Shaking Outta My Heart Press. Jean's book from that publisher is titled "Tornado." Jean is also co-editor of the online poetry magazine Word Salad which can be found at: www.wsmagazine.net/zine/

Find more by Jean Jones in the Author Index.

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