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

In Eden, Adam Had been so busy Making up smug Nouns of dominion, He hadn’t watched

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

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

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…

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

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

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

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

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

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…

I stood inside myself like a dead tree or a tower. I pulled the rope of braided hair and high above me