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On Certain Wits
Post #1482 • December 27, 2011, 7:14 AM • 1 Comment
Howard Nemerov, who prefaced this poem, "who amused themselves over the simplicity of Barnett Newman's paintings shown at Bennington College in May of 1958."
When Moses in Horeb struck the rock,
And water came forth out of the rock,
Some of the people were annoyed with Moses
And said he should have used a fancier stick.And when Elijah on Mount Carmel brought the rain,
Where the prophets of Baal could not bring rain,
Some of the people said that rituals of the prophets of Baal
Were aesthetically significant, while Elijah's were very plain.
1.
Walter Darby Bannard
December 27, 2011, 10:12 AM
Not a very lively poem. Here's the doggerel version:
That stick and rock trick worked for Moses
Water ran like fifty hoses
But they said "Mose is a hick
using such a plain old stick"
When Elijah, up on Mount Carmel
brought rain enough to fill a well
The Baal folks shook their heads and said,
"His routine is really dead"
The moral is, to have success
forget results; give them BS