God, Allah and Juju

by Edd Doerr

God ... Allah ... Juju
Africans worship them all
Jack Mendelsohn wrote
We prefer humanism
Ethics ... compassion ... science


(Note: My friend Jack Mendelsohn, a prominent Unitarian minister, now retired, wrote a book some years ago titled "God, Allah and Juju" about religion in Africa.  The above poem, a Japanese tanka -- 5 lines, 5-7-5-7-7 -- just popped into my head. I mostly write haiku -- 3 lines, 5-7-5 -- like the following.)


grey sky overhead
but where is the promised snow
forecast wrong again

    *     *     *

slender path of light
stretches like a ribbon bright
through the darkest night

     *     *     *

shelves and piles of books
but not enough time to read
will they stop writing