Old Stories of a Young God
In the Old Testament
(so it says, & so they always say)
God was a wrathful god
a vengeful god
a needy god, who
demanded obedience
demanded worship
baiting & punishing
with apple bobbing
banishing & flooding
killing the first born, bleeding
rivers of blood, raining frogs
& testing Job to ruin.
Then, in the New Testament God had a kid.
Gods’ whole perspective on life changed.
Now it was all about love.
Now it was all about forgiveness.
No more immature tantrums.
God had grown up.
Before he didn’t know what was important.
It wasn’t all about him anymore.
A real god takes care of its creation.
A real one sacrifices himself for others
not as strong as himself, &
will die for what he-she-them-it believes,
especially if it believes in itself.
Westley Heine is the author of Busking Blues: Recollections of a Street Musician and Squatter (Roadside Press 2022), a short story collection 12 Chicago Cabbies (Newington Blue Press 2021), a poetry collection Street Corner Spirits (Roadside Press 2023), a novella Picture Book (Page Telegram Press 2024), and a collection of short stories and poems Cloud Watching in the Inferno (Roadside Press 2025). Most recently Roadside Press has acquired his new novel The Boys in Black (2026). Heine was a 2025 poetry judge for the Society of Midland Authors, is Pushcart Prize nominated, twice the featured performer at the original poetry slam at The Green Mill in Chicago, featured at Underground Lit Fest in Toledo, Beyond Baroque in L.A., Spec’s in San Francisco, GonzoFest in New York City, and was the poet chosen to represent Illinois at the Route 66 Poetry & Arts Festival 2025.
