The Book of Mormon and Poetry

There are two books next to my bed: the Book of Mormon and The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry. Both are great.

I haven't read much of the Outlaw Bible--but when I do, I find I have an urge to read it out loud, which drastically slows me down. I also understand it better--or, I think I understand it better. Besides, some of it just begs to be given a voice, i.e.:

Mein Kampf - David Lerner

all I want to do
is make poetry famous

all I want to do is
burn my initials into the sun

all I want to do is
read poetry from the middle of a
burning building
standing in the fast lane of the
freeway
falling from the top of the
Empire State Building
...

(entire poem here, scroll down--it's worth it)

The Book of Mormon has been giving me the same feeling, so I've started reading it to my empty room.

Anyone who has read the Book knows--let's be honest here--how clunky it is, the "-eth" verb suffix being particularly jagged. So, I pretend that the writers wrote like outlaw poets.

Maybe it's blasphemy.

But it works surprisingly well. Change "-eth" verb suffixes to the (presently) standard "-s"; "verily, verily" becomes just "truly"; "And it came to pass..." simplifies to "And then..."; "ye" to "you"; etc...

I picked Alma 5:27-28 at random for an example. Read the following, aloud if you can, treating it as poetry with the accompanying inflections and hand gestures:

Have you walked
keeping yourself blameless before God?
Could you say
if you died at this time
that you have been sufficiently humble?
That your garments have been cleansed,
made white through the blood of Christ,
he will come to redeem his people from their sin?

Are you stripped of pride?
If you are not
you are not prepared to meet God.
You must prepare quickly;
the kingdom of heaven is soon at hand
And one such has not eternal life.

And the original language:

Have ye walked, keeping yourselves blameless before God? Could ye say, if ye were called to die at this time, within yourselves, that ye have been sufficiently humble? That your garments have been cleansed and made white through the blood of Christ, who will come to redeem his people from their sins?

Behold, are ye stripped of pride? I say unto you, if ye are not ye are not prepared to meet God. Behold ye must prepare quickly; for the kingdom of heaven is soon at hand, and such an one hath not eternal life.

I genuinely like reading the Book of Mormon, and it's surprising how many people are surprised by this. I don't care for the language that much because it doesn't flow...but the words themselves, the content, the ideas...are great. Which is why I've started doing what I do.

At heart it's perhaps hubris to improve upon the language of God, but I don't think He minds. If the truth of it still comes through, if I understand it better, if the story and reality of the Lord's dealings with us is clearer...then all the better, right?

The spirit of the Book of Mormon, I think, is fundamentally felt through the application of its words onto our soul. Poetry--the good stuff, anyway--works the same way, by burning its initials in the sun.

---
An excerpt from Satan After Hours, another David Lerner poem I love. Click through, read the whole thing...

Satan is when you
run out of cigarettes and out of money
at the same time
when every part of your body hurts
and you’re only 36
when the miles you’ve logged
start showing up in the way
you laugh