The Missionary was first published in the Poets Corner column of the Voice, September 22, 1987, page 57.
The reason this came about can be found at this link. It was also published in the 1992 pamphlet Is There Intelligent Life On Earth, by which time I’d figured out that the plural of shaman is not shamen. It can be found at page 19 (unnumbered). This pamphlet was published on this site on June 30, 2009 – see previous link.
I also sent The Missionary to the magazine American Atheist; I can’t remember when exactly but it must have been around the same time as it was published (unexpectedly) by the Voice. I received a polite letter a few weeks later which said it was being considered for publication, or words to that effect, but heard no more from the magazine.
The scan below is of the original, and because of the layout I have included the entire page, which contains four other poems, on which I will make no comment. I have though linked these individually under Other Contributors.
Click here for scan (JPG)
Click here for scan (PDF)
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