what did you feel when adam first made love to you
did you taste that painful word—desire—under his heaving
were you frightened as your belly grew round as fruit
when labor induced your screams
did your blood spill on the ground giving birth to cain
then, as you fed your son your body’s milk
did you delight in the life you held in your hands . . .
years later how did you learn of abel’s murder
the death of your second child
desire born again of adam’s heaving
did cain show you the scar of God’s fateful promise
finally, what did you feel when you watched him go,
a marked and haunted man
eve after eden
Sister Lou Ella has a master’s in theology from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio and is a former teacher and librarian. She is a certified spiritual director as well as a poet and writer. Her poems have appeared in numerous magazines such as America, First Things, Emmanuel, Third Wednesday, and new verse news as well as in four anthologies: The Night’s Magician: Poems about the Moon, edited by Philip Kolin and Sue Brannan Walker, Down to the Dark River edited by Philip Kolin, Secrets edited by Sue Brannan Walker and After Shocks: The Poetry of Recovery for Life-Shattering Events edited by Tom Lombardo. She was nominated for the Pushcart Prize in 2017 and in 2020. Her first book of poetry entitled she: robed and wordless was published in 2015. (Press 53.) On May 11, 2021, five poems from her book which had been set to music by James Lee III were performed by the opera star Susanna Phillips, star clarinetist Anthony McGill, pianist Mayra Huang at Y92 in New York City. The group of songs is entitled “Chavah’s Daughters Speak.”