“On Reading Creationism vs. Evolution Quarrels Online” by Jason McKinley Williams

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There were two young brothers.
who peered deeply at everything that fell across their eyes
apprised, incised, and scrutinized
seeking something true beneath it all.

One became a photographer,
devoted to capturing a subject’s authentic self
diagnosing, composing, exposing,
each color precise,
each detail crisply revealed.

The other became a painter,
tracing his subject’s lines, rendering its vitality;
portraying, conveying, and laying
down paint in thick strokes,
gliding across his glowing canvas.

They worked alongside one other,
and shared their compositions,
(this day, a slumping lily,
straining to still smolder orange,
against the sun’s brutal glare).

The photographer railed against his brother:
“Fabricated colors. You have shown only what is in your head!
However beautiful your shapes and hues,
they unveil only your own conceit!”

And so, the painter cried:
“You have not even seen the blossoms fade!
What you call ‘accuracy’ neglects everything!
You’re blind to the trembling petals as they rage against their death!”

True, both brothers dissect reflected light.
Both pine to seek out something real.

But their ferocious antagonism does not come
from certainty of their own images–
of their sure, eternal truth.
But, rather. from the lonely fear
that they’ll be shown that they’ve been foolish all along.

-Jason McKinley Williams

222 thoughts on ““On Reading Creationism vs. Evolution Quarrels Online” by Jason McKinley Williams”

  1. Rae Cobbs

    Jason, This is an exciting poem. Colors and light dominate, but also the rhythm. I work a lot in blank verse, so it is especially wonderful to see the music in a free form. I enjoy that the poem lasts until the original idea is discovered and fulfilled. Good work!

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