​Carved on the Lintel: The Temptation of Eve, by Marion Brown

Eve, door lintel, Cathedral of Saint-Lazare in Autun, by Gislebertus (France) early 12th century

​Carved on the Lintel: The Temptation of Eve
 originally on the Cathedral of St. Lazare, Autun, France

Buccaneer of flux, she floats above
a door, a long sine wave—flagship 
of goodbye. Her eyes, grapes, are 
 
not yet pressed. Eve’s face shares my 
father’s lids and parenthetical brows. 
I view her through his quizzical eye. 
 
Modeled in a province of wine, Eve
blooms sober-cheeked. Soft pulp 
does not keep. She cradles her chin. 
 
An out-sized hand insinuates, “Seize 
the day.” Sighing like her mother, old 
enough to know the value of let go,  
 
I disobey idle desires. Where did I 
ditch my bad-girl smarts? Goddess, 
caught mid pluck, you dare. You bet
 
your life. Yes, you pay—that itchy 
leaf monokini and hard-knock knee--
but still wager Paradise with me.

Marion Brown

A Yonkers, NY resident, Marion Brown holds a B.A. from Mount Holyoke College and Ph.D. from Columbia University. Finishing Line Press published her chapbooks Tasted and The Morning After Summer. Her poem “In the Dock, Fagin Reflects” won the Portico Poetry Competition. Other poems have appeared in Guesthouse, the Women’s Review of Books, Kestrel, The Night Heron Barks, and DIAGRAM. She serves on the Advisory Committee of Slapering Hol Press and National Council of Graywolf Press. Her website is at marionbrownpoet.com.