Hunkered down, nerve-numb, in the carnal hut, the cave of self, while outside a storm rages.

How beautiful they were, Adam thought— These beasts and birds; These tall grasses And flowering trees.

Snapping turtles in the pond eat b… and frogs. They do us no harm when… But early this spring two Canada… lingered, then built a nest. What… heard of, our neighbor feared: gos…

God planned a static planet, With plants that bore No offspring—as if Acts had no consequence. But Eve was there to change

God wanted labels That would stick To fur or bark or leaf. Hadn’t he given Adam A tongue?

I felt both pleasure and a shiver as we undressed on the slippery ba… and then plunged into the wild riv… I waded in; she entered as a diver… Watching her pale flanks slice the…

After our march from the Hudson t… of Cemetery Hill, we Boy Scouts… the sermons and hot sun while Girl… lolled among graves in the maple s… When members of the veterans’ hono…

Nouns were a giant Confining— Adam felt the sounds He made Build bars around

Grieving came from leaving Eden But leaving Eden was not grief— It was a lesson in lessening— How things, diminishing, Become more precious.

To the trees, leaving Came naturally— A green extension Of their being. But for Adam and Eve

The deer carcass hangs from a raft… Wrapped in blankets, a boy keeps w… from a pile of loose hay. Then he… and dreams about a death that is c… Inside him, there are small bones

Eve sensed this Was something Words could do In a fallen world: Move a thing’s

Here’s a seed. Food for a week. Cow skull in the pasture; back room where the brain was: spacious hut for me.