This Earth, our Eden

This Earth, our Eden
AJ Lamas-Nemec
By AJ Lamas-Nemec
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The poem is meant to speak on the feeling of hopelessness, but also the possibility of change. The idea that even within despair, there is still the ability for something revolutionary to happen.

Gardens forming over His home
as We realize falling was Our final act of love

I am now left with
the husks of being:
my heart
I was once hope incarnate
enchanting my way through this world
creating a path of love in my wake
now look at me
God used to pray to
relinquish all the sin He committed unto Us
now look at Us
praying

We were Eve
We carved flower crowns into wood
touched Our lips to their meaning
We created a language of sensation
never speaking their definition
defining still what it meant to be
Human
now look at me
wood splinters grace my face
reaching up We touch countenances
stifled into movement
We are forced to Emotion
once She came to Us willingly
now look at me
look at Us
living in houses without gardens
I’ll kiss the air a
grasp at knowing
why We came here
We were Eve We
never needed an Eden to create Us
We were Eve We
knew what would happen
knew Our fall to knowledge would be
The most infamous of all

hear the last of His words as He looked at us
risen once more
Gardens forming over His home
as We realize falling was Our final act of love
His final words
muted by Our scream of rejoice

Process

When beginning the poem, I first was thinking about the expression of being a “shell,” to imply the emptiness of someone emotionally. The idea of numbness. I continue to speak on how there is the idea of someone above you, someone who is meant to aid you but in reality has caused much harm, and must repair the damage done. Though I refer to this higher person being God, this was mainly to continue the imagery of the poem. The God of this poem could be anyone who is said to be higher than you, despite the pain they cause. Speaking on Eve, I often find myself thinking of the story of Eden and being sympathetic towards the curiosity of the Eve. I wanted natural imagery to be used when referring to the Eve of this poem, to tie in to the idea of the garden of Eden.

In terms of line spacing, I always want my work to be visually engaging, organizing ideas through line placement, not through punctuation. With my capitalization, I wanted to place the capitalization of God to be the same as the capitalization of Eve to show that both are equal within the realm of the poem.

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AJ Lamas-Nemec

AJ Lamas-Nemec is a Junior at St. Anne's-Belfield high school, and is excited to be a new member of the…

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Girls Write Now Here &…
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Poetry
Topic
Change & Transformation
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Protest & Resistance
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