I, Eve

i am
innocent

of all charges

nobody ever
asked me
my side of the Story

What Really Happened

everybody
wants to blame someone
for their troubles

me

women still curse me
when they give birth
in pain

or have to
fake another orgasm

but I was
There

nobody wants
to hear the
voice of the Damned

I was hungry

that's all

I was hungry

God said the fruit
of That Tree
was especially good
to eat

why mention that?

a dare?

I needed something
different

a new taste

and my mouth watered
my stomach growled
at the sight
of that Special Fruit

and
God said
it would give me
Knowledge
Insight Into the Mysteries

I needed knowledge
I was brand new
Here

I didn't know
anything

nothing

I was a child
in a fully formed
body

I needed help

Adam didn't help
He just sat there
all day
doing nothing

he seemed to like
the set-up
everything done
for him

but i was
bored

restless

already I felt
stirrings
in my own body
that i didn't understand

desires
pleasures
feelings

like when Adam and I
touched

things
happened

and it was Good

so
the snake and I
got to talking

it was magical
to have an intelligent
conversation

to think
and ask
and wonder

the snake
was Wise
very Wise

I wanted that too

Eat, he said
eat of Wisdom,
knowledge
expand...

and it was
wonderful

i thought
so many thoughts
with the sweetest juice

rolling down my chin
it filled me
enlightened me

it opened my eyes!
i had to share it
with my beloved

we shared
connection
insight
beauty

and so God
thought we were ready
for the
Rest of the World

and God gave us
clothes
to stay warm

but as the Story
got passed down
over the centuries
it was distorted

into a myth
of Sin, Disobedience

Shame

but I am Eve
I am
Mother of All Living

Mother
of Wisdom

Seeker of Truth
and Beauty

the world--not I--
gives you Shame

I, Eve
give you Wisdom

and
Wonder.

big

God is..
BIG...
I said

and the theologians
frowned

what did they want?

asking about
the nature of God
is like asking

to describe
the sweetness
of a kiss

the power
of a tornado

the touch
of a butterfly's
wings
against your palm

to say Who
What
How
God is

is like
trying to measure
the arc
of a dolphin's leap

or describing
the aroma
of honeysuckle
on the wind

or the
sensation
of a lover's embrace

do not ask me
to reduce God
to a reasonable
sentence

an understandable
creed
a formula
that seperates
good and bad

it's like
asking me to
tell you
how it feels

to make love
with my beloved

to feel that
safe
yet vulnerable
with another

to lose boundaries
of Self and Other
yet
to know
finally
who you are

these walls
hold in
keep out

these stained glass
windows

make things pretty
that aren't

let the sky in
breathe in
Creation
watch the cocoon
unfold
into brilliance

stand in the
broken waves
of the sea

see the eagle
fly
over the prairie

and then

then

speak to me
of God.

it's what's for dinner

those cows

in that trailer

i swear they're

looking at me

hooked up

to a truck

parked

next to Casey's General Store

they peek through

the opening

long, sultry eyelashes

framing big brown eyes

moo!

that's what they said

help!

is what i heard

i wanted to

apologize

for my taste

for beef

especially london broil

that's my favorite

or filet mignon

wrapped in bacon

but hey,

who likes pigs, anyway?

grilled is best

on an outdoor barbeque

that smell of grilled beef

in summertime

i usually eat min e

medium

i don't like it

too rare

i'm sorry

i said

to the mooing cows

batting those eyelashes

those eyes

those soulful eyes

boring into me

i started the car

and drove past

noticing then

that they were dairy cows

(feeling quite silly)

and I vowed

then and there

to drink more milk.

resurrection

"In the midst of life we are in death, from whom can we seek help?"

-9th century

the first time

i died

was when cancer

stole you

all i remember

of purgatory

was the

nothingness

emptiness

i don't remember

feeling

and i wondered

if that was what

death felt like

but your death

gave me a boundary

living in the end-times

gave me relief

a limit

a horizon

an end i could see

the second time

i died

my childhood playmate

ceased breathing

no illness

no accident

no tidy explanation

her body

made its own

decision

to cease

then death

was around every corner

lurked in closets

behind every wheel

like a probation officer

waiting for me to make a mistake

life and death

played tug of war

with my soul

and always

there was you

in the shadows

of every friendship

i could hear

your giggle

in every grace note

the third time

i died was

when i walked

that lonesome valley

beside the friend

who snatched my hand

because she didn't want

to walk it by herself

but then she sighed

and let go of my grip

i descended into Hades

kicked butt with some demons

and hoped for the worst

not realizing that the worst

had already happened

so i decided

to leave hell

and live

until i died

for good.

self esteem

i admire
the quiet person
who seems
content
to choose
what footsteps
she will make
without being pushed
in any one direction
by a crowd of bodies
caught up in the mob

there is a world
inside of her
that no one else
can know
unless she chooses
and she alone decides
how much

she is watching
the world
seeing the small
the unnoticed
and making poetry

i love her
because
she makes people nervous
they're afraid
she sees them
or is keeping secrets

i love her
because she smiles
seemingly unruffled
by social pressure
to be loud
to make others
comfortable

she squeezes honey
from a rock
paints beauty and color
out of a
black and white world
takes the blood
of death
and brings life.

facebook

out of the musty attic
of memory
a name
a face
and unbidden memories

people
frozen in Time
appear

aged by decades

what stories
carved those lines?
what events
cast a shadow
in those eyes?

I wonder about
the pages between
Then and Now
the child I knew
and the middle-aged
grown-up
your current picture
reveals

in my mind
you are still
a child
in adult clothing

I'm always surprised
you remember
me
a brief paragraph
in your memoirs

w--e sat together
in Sunday School
we played in the sandobox
and swam in your pool

we played on opposite teams
in volleyball
at summer camp--
I can't remember who won

you've been divorced
once or twice
you manage a band
in the Pacific Northwest
and dig Eastern theology

your girlfriend
thinks you're "hot"

we only post
our best
our favorite things
our current interests

it's beautiful
really

we avoid
the painful details
of those long years
when we wandered
without connection
or meaning

but now
we download our smiles
our current love interest

birthday parties
for grandkids
vacations to Colorado
wedding pictures

we collect
over 300 friends

but sometimes
I wonder
how lonely we
still are.

story

a

southern girl

from mississippi

fell in love

with an uppity british subject

from bombay

at a college

in the sticks of kentucky

mixed breeds

mango trees and watermelons

hindu gods and bible thumpers

afternoon tea and soda in a glass bottle

from Malcom's General Store

priveleged class and hands-in-the-dirt-squeezing-a-cow's-teat farming

mix it all up

and take it to jersey

the suburb of new york city

8 or 9 million people

6 lane highways

children produced

listening to british and southern accents

telling them what to do

pastor's kids

on display

as examples

i've eaten plenty

of southern fried chilcken

black eyed peas

and watermelon

picked right off the vine

i've been to homecomings

claimed as kin by branches

of a dense family tree

i've fished in man-made ponds

dodged water-moccasins

and cow patties in the fields

but the far-off land

with marble tombs

and sacred cows in the streets

reamins a mystery

pages missing

from my father's biography

blank entries

in my psychic photo album

stories untold

paragraphs unwritten

i may never know

the rest

of the story.