Original Poem: EVE by Dorothy Livesay
Creative Response: Poison Apples by Monica Zeigler
You can find Monica’s commentary on her poem —> here.
EVE
By: Dorothy Livesay

Eve

Beside the highway
at the motel door
              its roots
the last survivor of a pioneer
                 orchard
miraculously      still
                bearing

A thud another apple falls
               I stop     and O
that scent, gnarled, ciderish
                with sun in
that woody pulp
                 for teeth and tongue
                 to bite and curl around
that spurting juice
                earth-sweet!
In fifty seconds, fifty summers sweep
              and shake me-
I am alive!      can stand
                up still
hoarding this apple in my hand.
Poison Apples 
by Monica Ziegler

As you rush to reclaim
Everything you think
Is yours
Do you spill
With joy
Or are you hungry for more?
Are you sure your prize will keep you
Alive?
Is there something you do not know,
Feigning eyes?
About the fruit that grows grows
Sick
Deep
Out of your soul into hoarding palms?
And what if all the
Laws carved rough
In a slab of stone,
Were not to strike you,
Not to Leave you empty
scratched out and erased;
Oh no but instead to reveal
the richest of tastes?
you  will
Fall short.
You have;
Look at the scars on your knees and
Know more will come.
But friend,
To swallow
A healing cup filled with Grace-
Bought by a Lover’s clean blood
Purchased to clean you up ;
Oh——- the taste!
Enough to drop the poison apple,
Touching your lips.
Keep your Free hands open.
Let go to live let it go to
Live.
Quina Aragon

Quina Aragon

Quina Aragon's articles, poems, and spoken word videos have been featured on The Gospel Coalition, Risen Motherhood, Journey Women, Fathom Mag, and The Witness: BCC. She resides in Tampa, FL with her husband Jon and beautiful, three-year-old daughter. Quina's first children's book, Love Made, is a poetic retelling of the creation story that highlights God as the Trinity, humans as His image bearers, and children as a delightful gift.

Leave a Reply