I listened to a cassette version of Harold Bloom’s fascinating The Book of J. Bloom expounds on a collection of sections of the Old Testament that he believes were written by a single author – an ironic and humorous author of similar stature to Shakespeare and Chaucer.
I was particularly struck by Bloom’s analysis of the relationship between Yahweh (what Bloom and others believe was the ancient Hebrew word for God) and Moses as depicted in those passages Bloom thinks J wrote.
Bloom writes that Yahweh and Moses had a deep friendship but one that was characterized by “a kind of wounded and wounding intimacy.†In reading the parts of the Bible dealing with their relationship, I found this to be true and thought this helped to explain one of the most baffling incidents in the Bible.
This insight inspired a poem I penned called Why God Mooned Moses. People have always laughed when I read the poem aloud but it was not written to be funny – although I easily saw its humorous aspect — but to attempt to understand the implications of the following Bible verse. I would be interested to learn what readers of my blog think of both the Biblical passage and my poem about it.
Exodus 33:23: “And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.”
Why God Mooned Moses
by Denise Noe
Exposing ass, the place of punishment and defecation,
is cross-culturally recognized as an act of impudence.
When God said to Moses, “My face cannot be seen by human eye”
God’s best friend watched, his heart full of joyous anticipation,
as God pulled His hand away and His Holy Buttocks filled the sky.
Burlesque has no tease when it is redeemed by Divine Providence.
