For National Coming Out Day today, a powerful poem by University of North Carolina drama student Elliott Darrow, which has recently gone viral at You Tube: Elizabeth Dias comments on Darrow and his performance for Time:
The poem is a dynamic work of gay liberation theology. Darrow use Bible passages to challenge conventional views about God . . . . The most powerful moment comes when Darrow interprets the classic Biblical story of Moses and the burning bush. In the book of Exodus, Moses is watching sheep in the desert when he sees a bush on fire but not burning up. Then an angel speaks to him from inside the flame and tells him to lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. God then liberates the people, whom society subjugated, from oppression. Here’s how Darrow sees the passage:
"A history lesson: A faggot is a bundle of sticks / Originally used as kindling for fires that engulfed gays / When they were burned at the stake, people were firewood / But Moses came across wood on fire and saw God in it / What is a burning bush but bundles of branches / On fire, isn’t it funny how faggots and God can look the same sometimes?"
