I'd Drop God's Irrelevant, Angry Tirade about Might and Majesty Versus Weakness

               
Taking bets on the next pope. I work at a Catholic university, talked yesterday with two theology professors, both of whom are friends, one whom was also my teacher, he hasn't been called by NPR yet but was frequently heard on Morning Edition and All Things Considered during the papal election after John Paul II died that brought in Ratzinger. Both think that what Ratzinger no longer has physical and mental strength for is a ticking bomb of scandal - Ratzinger wants the kaboom, if it comes while he is still alive, to not kaboom a sitting pope.  Both professors are convinced the next pope will be a white European as always. I said, why not elect an ultra-conservative 3rd World person of color, one who can safely reinforce the power of Church's elite behind the veneer of uniqueness of mannequin as progressive arrowhead. Nah, said one, maybe, said the other. There is a successful working model, I said. Fuck the motherfucker. Believe nothing. Shitty human delighted by North Korean nuclear tests. Are Republicans beyond saving? Unasked in Drew's column: Are Democrats? We must eat. The Anthropocene Project. Bethesda hates helicopters. Actual headline: Maryland Caught Off-guard by Pope's Resignation. Wheaton: The answer is no. Actual novels I've tried and failed to finish. Photos from Cleveland, w/playlist. The broader the generalization the better. Peter Maxwell Davies. Another Brown World Part One. Another Brown World Part Two. Stream Matmos. Today's Coil cascade (my apologies, it's been a while since one) prompted by Bodah playing this song last night:





EDITING JOB

Carl Dennis

I'd cut the prologue, where God agrees
To let his opponent, Satan,
Torment our hero merely to prove
What omniscience must know already:
That Job's devotion isn't dependent
On his prosperity. And how foolish of God
If he supposes that Satan, once proven wrong,
Will agree to forego his spite against creation
For even a minute.
         
I'd keep the part where Job disdains
His friends' assumption that somehow
He must be to blame for his suffering,
And the part where he makes a moving appeal
To God for an explanation.
I'd drop God's irrelevant, angry tirade
About might and majesty versus weakness.
             
The issue is justice. Is our hero
Impertinent for expecting his god
To practice justice as well as preach it,
For assuming the definition of justice
That holds on earth holds as well above?
Abraham isn't reproved in Genesis
For asking, when God decides to burn Sodom,
If it's fair to lump the good with the wicked.
                   
Let Job be allowed to complain
About his treatment as long as he wants to,
For months, for decades,
And in this way secure his place forever
In the hearts of all who believe
That suffering shouldn't be silent,
That grievances ought to be aired completely,
Whether heard or not.
             
As for the end, if it's meant to suggest
That patience will be rewarded, I'd cut it too.
Or else I suggest at least adding a passage
Where God, after replenishing Job's possessions,
Comes to the tent where the man sits grieving
To ask his pardon. How foolish of majesty
To have assumed that Job's new family,
New wife and children and servants,
Would be an ample substitute for the old.