Literary Sampler: Essays, Book Reviews, and More...
Monthly Column by Charity Gingerich

Job had the audacity—picking
those runny green sores—to whine
and ask questions of a whirlwind.
Moses, meek man that he became,
had a damning temper (smashing
stone books freshly God-written
on an innocent piece of representative
art?) and granite-thick skull: [God] I’ll
give you words for Pharaoh. Don’t
worry. [M] I never liked speech class.
[God] Who made your tongue? [M]
They used to pick on me for messing
up ‘ubiquitous.’ [God] My words
in your mouth, your mouth I formed.
[M] Would you mind getting someone
who can speak better? Who likes
to make speeches? David had a thing
for women. Michael. Abigail.
Bathsheba. He saw. He took. A little
heedless—might we say—of matters
of prior engagement? And then
there’s Jonah. He survived the whale’s
belly, but couldn’t stomach the Ninevites’
mass-conversion nor later the worm
that ate his leafy umbrella. Joseph was
pretty into himself too. Big-cheese-moon
dreamer, braggart. He could have shared
that stripy coat of his once in a while.
But what about Daniel? Big-dream
hero of kings’ secrets, yet not a trace
of pride. Big royal rings and position,
but no women. (?) Almost a lion hot-
lunch, yet perfect bold faith, not a bead
of sweat, poise of an elegant flamingo
in a tickling shallows—always.
Personal defamation? check. Cultural
attacks? check. Powerful position? check.
Opportunity for self-advancement? check.
Opportunity for revenge? check.
Opportunity for self-glorying? check, check
check. How come, if all these guys
wrote their own books (about themselves),
does Daniel’s make him sound so good
and the others’ so…normal, human?
Did he leave the juicy stuff out?
God inspired.
Did the others really write their own?
Historians howl.
Or is it possible he was just that
maddeningly sound, that good?
That God, with a time-echoing grin,
wanted to leave us the tracks of a man
so perfect we’d want to pick him apart
scowling to see what he was really
made of only to be able to say, shaking
his head wryly, he’s the man. I told you so.
So stop your jaded Reader-Response
grumblings and be more like him.
* * *
In our post-modern feel-good religion-
world where confessing big
raw spiritual pimples is In, dare I think
it’s okay to try and be more...Daniel-
esque? More, well, perfect? To withstand
all drooling fangs-bared roaring
opposition wherever it may appear
with calm knees, level gaze, ringing tones?
Not if I have to do it alone, of course
(or need to learn Syriac any time soon).

Copyright © 2008 by Charity Gingerich.

About the Author: Charity graduated from Kent State University with a BA in English, as well as minors in writing and history in 2006. This fall (2008) she will be entering the MFA in Creative Writing program at West Virginia University where she will be specializing in poetry. Charity always welcomes any questions/suggestions about this column. Click Here to send her an email.