Issue 143, Volume 14
May 2010

Mary, Mary … Not So Contrary

If Mary was a virgin,
‘n’ Joseph wasn’t Jesus’ Dad,
how could Mary have a baby,
let alone a strapping lad?

Parthenogenesis is one way
the way of certain frogs
who larrup and get listless
when stood up in their bogs.

But Mary wasn’t lonely
and Joe was a handy man.
It’s not like he was absent
or rotting in some can.

Joseph was a model parent,
a brilliant family planner;
a spark certainly ignited,
and he was there to fan ‘er.

But, O.K., let’s say God
was Johnny on the spot.
Joseph was away that day.
Things went from warm to hot.

The holy ghost got down
in a metaphysical way
an immaculate breeze
got past her knees, let’s say.

Would it be so blasphemous then
to suggest God did not intervene
in some unspoken plot,
some wholly other scene?

The North Star that shone so bright
could it have been a U.F.O.?
Could Mary have been abducted
and missed part of the blesséd show?

If she were artificially inseminated
with better-than-human seed,
would that mean God had done
some sordid or nefarious deed?

Would Jesus, the son, then be
any less a son of God
with a twin complement of genes
half-human, half-alien demigod?

Does it matter whether the curtain
is parted, or partially closed;
that we see God’s face for a moment
an all-too-human thought is exposed?

Would it make any difference
to a man’s faith in the divine
if he got a glimpse of his roots
as well as the leaf and vine?