Giant Inflatable Whale – $19.59 – a poem by Megan McDermott

Giant Inflatable Whale – $19.59

“Use this giant ocean pal as part of your Jonah And The Whale lessons or have him make a splash at any Sunday School or VBS event.”

The “or”
is what interests me,
a whale able to play
two roles: either
Jonah’s doom-slash-
savior (doom because
who wants to be
stuck in whale
insides, savior
because it was dry,
it wasn’t drowning,
it wasn’t death)
or just some generic
example of God’s
creation, to be
dragged out of
the closet for any
old event.

Though, on some level,
maybe it makes sense
to play both roles at once.
Jonah’s whale wouldn’t
define herself by Jonah,
who was just a bit of odd food
she couldn’t digest, a footnote.

If the whale was being used
by God then, it didn’t know it.
What, then, of the whale’s own graces,
things for which we have no record?

.

Megan McDermott is a poet and Episcopal priest living in Western Massachusetts. She is a graduate of Yale Divinity School and Susquehanna University. Her poetry has been published in various publications, including The Christian Century, The Cresset, Psaltery & Lyre, Amethyst Review, Rogue Agent Journal, Gyroscope Review, and Saint Katherine Review.