By Mark Jarman

Featured Art: Girl With Apple by Ellery Pollard

Instead of casting them out of paradise,
Instead of making them labor in pain and sweat,
Instead of instilling tristesse after coitus,
Instead of giving them fire to burn their house down
And light their way into the outer world,
He could have split them, each with a memory of the other,
And put them each into a separate world.

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Mark Jarman’s most recent collection of poetry is The Heronry. His most recent book of essays is Dailiness. He has retired from Vanderbilt University where he is now Centennial Professor of English Emeritus.

Originally published in NOR 6