Eden en effet


we need new myths, eh             remember the twee fen we deserted
where shepherds tended sheep                       the ewes’ whey fleeces
three effete nephews             jewel-bedecked fetched vessels
they presented sweets                  dyed hens’ eggs             green cheeses
there by the very elm where feeble eve ended perfect eden             her
esse est esse             next, the ethylene stench             yes             expected
deep              fermented             then she, he expelled             ejected
hence                    the weedy mess             sere deserts             her elegy
remedy-less             her heedless regret             when she erred there
ended the esteemed sheer sweetness             then entered vexed sex
beget, beget             wretchedness             the elements rebelled
tempests              then drynesses              then tempests             the
wreck             the lees             the effects engendered             we need
new eyes             new selves            dresses resewed            tendernesses
re-wedded                the bedsheets fresh               the  scene re-rendered

 

 

 

 

Thom Sullivan

Thom Sullivan grew up on a farm in Wistow/Bugle Ranges in the Adelaide Hills. His poems have appeared in Best Australian Poems, Australian Love Poems and as part of ABR’s ‘States of Poetry’ anthology. He was the winner of the 2017–18 Noel Rowe Poetry Award.

More by Thom Sullivan ›

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