Poem: Unfallen Adam

Michelangelo, detail from The Expulsion of Adam and Eve, 1508 - 1512

Unfallen Adam is an ape
Who, with Eve, fell upward into
An awareness of duality
And differentiated desire
Setting into motion a journey
Toward a new naivete in which
Our finger paintings are full of sex
Where we unite with pure love
For the pain of separation

Yes, Man named the beasts and
Plants of the forest and field
We rise not by un-naming
But by divining names are not
The things but a way of arranging life
For the expansion of knowledge
And responsibility. We accept that
Illusory taxonomies do no damage
To the miracle of what we feel

In the new Eden our fig leaves
Are chosen not out of shame
But for beauty

M. Bogen
2011 / 2014