Recently I bumped into a friend of mine in London whom I hadn’t seen for years. She is an actor, writer and poet among her many considerable talents. I recently read a poem of hers on Pindrop Press, so it was wonderful to reconnect with her. On first reading the poem I whooped out aloud with admiration and mirth. It also made me realise that it reflected some of my own feelings on patriarchal societies.
EVE
I wanted to know.
To be honest I’d grown
bored with Paradise,
knew the place
like the back of my hand.
Adam’s innocence –
there were times I wished
he’d just grow up,
learn to think for himself,
always God this and God that.
People say I was tempted.
Truth is that snake
tried his best to stop me.
But I was quick,
sank my teeth in deep.
God boomed and Adam quaked.
He wanted to say sorry,
was prepared to spend eternity
apologising. Me?
I was out of there.
Emer Gillespie , 2012, from The Instinct Against Death
I love this because it encapsulates female intelligence , enterprise and survival. It is also a complete retake on the patriarchal, thundering Adam and Eve story from Genesis. I like the bit about the snake wanting to STOP Eve – she wanted to know. Who doesn’t want knowlege? Knowlege is empowerment. Eve wasn’t mislead, led into temptation, she had already worked it all out. Adam comes over as rather needy and wimpy, Eve’s irration at his immaturity is both amusing and aptly modern. He adhers to what he knows and is safe; she is aware of the myriad of possibilities beyond, the power of knowlege. Eve is the beginning of our Evolution. With her intellect and her life bearing qualities, SHE is the heroine, not the spare rib. Oh dear, but in reality, those tedious Patriarchs have accused her and all females of weakness ever since and done everything to hold women back. In most non western cultures they still do and in a lesser extent in our own.
I am tempted at a later date to create an image in response to this poem, showing that Eve intellingence and ambition, the dismayed snake and the needy Adam….In a modern context?
