Eve & Lilith
Firstly--Thank you all for your input and advice on my life. It's so good to hear everything you have to tell me. Something I think I didn't mention was that I did have a plan for my life. I was going to major in Psychology or neuroscience and then go onto grad school at the U of R etc etc. So I'm not sure declaring a major is quite what I need, because I pretty much had. But it's still so helpful to hear whatever you guys throw my way. So thank you thank you. I still don't know what I'm going to do, but I'm sure you'll here about it when I do figure something out.
I'm writing a paper on Eve and Lilith, and because I am a geek and I get excited by good poetry, I had to share these two beautiful poems. I tried to share my enthusiasm with Carolyn and she just looked at me blankly. But maybe some of you like poetry, even if not as obsessively as I do.
Eve
The skin was scarlet and bitter
where her lips wrapped around it
and her teeth broke it open.
"Mph," she said to the serpent
as she pulled the apple away from
her mouth. "Why'd he demand
we never eat this? It tastes foul."
"You're still thinking of surfaces,"
said the serpent. "The point is
you can learn anything
once you get past the skin.
Surely you're curious?"
"Anything such as what?"
asked Eve, peeling red
fragments, gulping before
their gall bit her tongue.
"Such as the truth about how
you were born," said the serpent.
"Discard that propaganda
about your arrival from Adam's
rib. That's merely another
in the series of men's displaced
womb-worshipping tales. Forget
the story about him being
an assemblage of mud, glued together
with God's spit, though that
has a splash of truth."
"Mmm,"
said Eve, licking the golden
flesh beneath the skin.
"This tastes sweeter."
"Bite it,"
said the serpent, "eat. You'll learn
what is right and wrong when you break
the rule. That will please Him.
You'll become the creature that He
loves best, the one that chooses,
the one that is free."
--Joan Zimmerman
Lilith
Kicked myself out of paradise
left a hole in the morning
no note no goodbye
the man I lived with
was patient and hairy
he cared for the animals
worked late at night
planting vegetables
under the moon
sometimes he'd hold me
our long hair tangled
he kept me from rolling
off the planet
it was
always safe there
but safety
wasn't enough. I kept nagging
pointing out flaws
in his logic
he carried a god
around in his pocket
consulted it like
a watch or an almanac
it always proved
i was wrong
two against one
isn't fair! I cried
and stormed out of Eden
into history:
the Middle Ages
were sort of fun
they called me a witch
I kept dropping
in and out
of people's sexual fantasies
now
I work in New Jersey
take art lessons
live with a cabdriver
he says: baby
what I like about you
is your sense of humor
sometimes
I cry in the bathroom
remembering Eden
and the man and the god
I couldn't live with
--Enid Dame
I'm writing a paper on Eve and Lilith, and because I am a geek and I get excited by good poetry, I had to share these two beautiful poems. I tried to share my enthusiasm with Carolyn and she just looked at me blankly. But maybe some of you like poetry, even if not as obsessively as I do.
Eve
The skin was scarlet and bitter
where her lips wrapped around it
and her teeth broke it open.
"Mph," she said to the serpent
as she pulled the apple away from
her mouth. "Why'd he demand
we never eat this? It tastes foul."
"You're still thinking of surfaces,"
said the serpent. "The point is
you can learn anything
once you get past the skin.
Surely you're curious?"
"Anything such as what?"
asked Eve, peeling red
fragments, gulping before
their gall bit her tongue.
"Such as the truth about how
you were born," said the serpent.
"Discard that propaganda
about your arrival from Adam's
rib. That's merely another
in the series of men's displaced
womb-worshipping tales. Forget
the story about him being
an assemblage of mud, glued together
with God's spit, though that
has a splash of truth."
"Mmm,"
said Eve, licking the golden
flesh beneath the skin.
"This tastes sweeter."
"Bite it,"
said the serpent, "eat. You'll learn
what is right and wrong when you break
the rule. That will please Him.
You'll become the creature that He
loves best, the one that chooses,
the one that is free."
--Joan Zimmerman
Lilith
Kicked myself out of paradise
left a hole in the morning
no note no goodbye
the man I lived with
was patient and hairy
he cared for the animals
worked late at night
planting vegetables
under the moon
sometimes he'd hold me
our long hair tangled
he kept me from rolling
off the planet
it was
always safe there
but safety
wasn't enough. I kept nagging
pointing out flaws
in his logic
he carried a god
around in his pocket
consulted it like
a watch or an almanac
it always proved
i was wrong
two against one
isn't fair! I cried
and stormed out of Eden
into history:
the Middle Ages
were sort of fun
they called me a witch
I kept dropping
in and out
of people's sexual fantasies
now
I work in New Jersey
take art lessons
live with a cabdriver
he says: baby
what I like about you
is your sense of humor
sometimes
I cry in the bathroom
remembering Eden
and the man and the god
I couldn't live with
--Enid Dame