“If Adam Picked the Apple,” Two Poems, Danielle Coffyn.

If Adam Picked the Apple

There would be a parade,

a celebration,

a holiday to commemorate

the day he sought enlightenment.

We would not speak of

temptation by the devil, rather,

we would laud Adam’s curiosity,

his desire for adventure

and knowing.

We would feast

on apple-inspired fare:

tortes, chutneys, pancakes, pies.

There would be plays and songs

reenacting his courage.

But it was Eve who grew bored,

weary of her captivity in Eden.

And a woman’s desire

for freedom is rarely a cause

for celebration.

Wild

Give me silvery strands,

the milky growth of aging

intertwined with the sediment

of youth.

Give me stretch marks

along thighs,

one gleaming stripe

for each year this body

survived winter.

Give me scars and sunspots,

proof of every season

weathered.

Give me laugh lines

like the hyena,

rooted canyons along

eyes and mouth,

impervious to wrinkle cream,

so profound was our joy.

Danielle Coffyn has been weaving poetry and stories for as long as she can remember. A graduate of the University of Kansas and armed with English, French, and History degrees, she spent nearly a decade teaching before transitioning to the corporate world of learning and development. The start of the pandemic was the catalyst she needed to start putting pen to paper, with the goal of sharing her writing publicly. Born in Belgium and raised in the Midwest, Danielle harbors a wanderlust she feeds by hosting Nature & Nurture hiking and writing retreats around the country focused on reconnecting to the self and one another through writing and spending time outdoors. She currently makes her home in St. Louis, Missouri, with her son and dog.