I think we should celebrate the free-ebook-ing for ebook week of the Fob Bible by featuring a poem from it. So here it is:
Title: Moses and Aron
Poet: Will Bishop
Publication Info: 2009, The Fob Bible, published by Peculiar Pages
Submitted by: Theric Jepson
Why?: Th. writes: “.
If Will and I weren’t both Mormon, I don’t suppose I could give this poem as heavily a Mormon reading as I do. To me, this is the Mormon Moses and the Mormon Aaron. It will be fun to discuss why.”
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If Will and I weren’t both Mormon, I don’t suppose I could give this poem as heavily a Mormon reading as I do. To me, this is the Mormon Moses and the Mormon Aaron. It will be fun to discuss why.”
Participate:
Here’s the link to the spreadsheet so you can see what’s already been submitted
A Motley Vision 
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I’ve been convinced for a long time that God has a good sense of humor. Sure, he occasionally smites and scolds, but he always ends up smiling on his children, leaving them a bit better for the experience.
Some of the content is, in my opinion, nothing short of brilliant. I particularly loved the strangely-titled poem “Moses and Aron” (I’m not sure why “Aron” is spelled with only one A, unless Elvis had something to do with it):
And so it was that God gave us Aaron
for Moses was slow of speech
and didn’t look right in a business suit,
for we yanked on his bulrush-bred beard
and mocked him,
mocked him, the man who would that we might meet God,
lab-coated, sulfury-smelling and steaming mad down from
Mount Sinai.
The master of the shape-shifting serpent pen–
rejected, returned the manila envelope,
advised to apply at the library.
And so it was that God gave his genius to Aaron,
the great dilutor, P.R. man of the Pentateuch,
to trim their burning bush into topiary
and punch up the prose with a little sports metaphor,
and a little golden calf.
And so it was that we came to prefer the spokesman
while the prophet was buried in an unmarked grave
and was not permitted into our Promised Land,
where we would burn the fat of rams
and would ask God for a king.
(p. 69)
How many hours could we spend wondering at the wisdom in this short poem? The haunting imagery of a “P.R. man of the Pentateuch” being preferred over a prophet…it all hits just a little too close to home.
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Note: I can’t explain the connection, but “Moses und Aron” is the title of an unfinished opera by Schoenberg.