THURSDAY, JANUARY 22EAT THE APPLE GRANDLY

There’s surely a lesson here somewhere
that makes some kind of sense
but I confess I don’t get it.
What advantage was there in the first place
being in a place so perfect, just the two of them?
And how could a perfect man have fallen
for the oldest line in the book even then:

this is wonderful stuff why don’t you try it
routine
standing there so the story goes
without so much as a fig leaf
covering his you know what
when a certain serpent sauntered up
yes I said sauntered because
the thing had legs in those days
so the story goes
tempting the woman first
who got into the spirit of it right away
wanting it badly from the first hint of
you ain’t ever had anything like this
to make a short story shorter
he bit.

There is little joy in eating an apple meagerly,
white teeth scraping thinly across white flesh.
The taste is in the bites that fill the mouth.
I hope it was like that for poor Adam,
considering what he is said to have lost. Helen Frankenthauler's abstract red