The Book of Jonah

A brilliant and absurdist new poetry collection from the winner of the Forward Prize winner. None of the Old Testament prophets was especially happy or confident in their calling, but Jonah was the only one to attempt to reject it outright, disobey direct instruction and literally run away. A late addition to the canon, taken by some to be a parody or satire of the major prophets, The Book of Jonah occupies a unique and awkward space in scripture, part dream, part joke, part provocation. Luke Kennard's Jonah is more of a business traveler than seer, determined to remain very much of the world, a mercenary for hire by non-governmental organizations, arts development agencies, conflicting institutional agendas. Convinced that he possesses nothing that might change the world for the better in even the most incremental ways, Jonah believes he is saving the world from himself. In The Book of Jonah we are given the spectacle of a reluctant prophet undergoing increasingly absurd course corrections to arrive, finally, at the triumphant scene of his prophecy. Here Jonah deals not so much a lack of meaning as an excess, plagued with doubts as to his place in divine or infernal revelation, bereft of any motivation other than escape, but nonetheless displeased by what he finds on his way--to the point that he might be fulfilling his obligations as a prophet after all. Decimated arts, cynicism, ignorance and apathy. What if, in doing everything he can to avoid his vocation, he's actually doing everything as intended?