Issue 05

The Topic At Hand: Blank Slate

amy.meckler

Lilith Comments

by Amy Meckler

There must be an outside for paradise
to be worth the sacrifice. Some say
I lie on the bank of the Red Sea, still
wait for redemption.

Call me Abath, Amiz, Kalee, Odam.
Call me night monster, dark duchess, demon,
wild-haired seductress, man-hater; call me
childless and bitter.

You’ve heard I said Yahweh’s name then vanished.
You’ve heard I disobeyed and was banished.
You’ve heard that I’m a slave to Lucifer.
Rumors, conjecture.

The truth is I came from dust, one with Adam,
made separate by God for me to wed him.
I chose to return to dust, preferring
darkness to bedlam.

***
Listen to Miette (of Miette’s Bedtime Story Podcast) read “Lilith Comments”:

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The image that serves as a preview for this poem on the issue page is fragment of the painting Lilith, by John Collier.

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    • I chose to return to dust, preferring
      darkness to bedlam.

      This very nearly gave me chills. Well done, madam.
    • logan
      The truth is I came from dust.


      Beautiful, lovely, true, honest. Amy Meckler does good things for our language -- and our sex.
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    The Author

    Amy Meckler

    amy.meckler
    Amy Meckler received her MFA in creative writing from Hunter College, where she garnered the Academy of American Poets Award, among other honors. Her poems have appeared widely in literary journals and anthologies. Her first collection, What All the Sleeping Is For, won the 2002 Defined Providence Press Poetry Book Award and was published that year. She works in New York City as a Sign Language interpreter. Amy also blogs at You Have Spinach In Your Teeth. She is also the Poetry Editor for Revolving Floor. See all of Amy's Revolving Floor contributions.

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