after the Fruit,

the Tree,

Fruit ripe from the Tree,

Boy tasted the Fruit,

Fruit from the Tree that was shared supper,

Woman who is the fruit.

Earth is Temple,

Boy now hungry,

Fruit now ripe,

Tree that freed the Fruit,

Earth that fell from her rainy Hair,

Fruit that brazed him inside

where all that exists drew breath within her,

Breasts opening

where Tree touched the Earth,

Boy who could taste the Fruit

could drink in more.

And Boy longed for that Fruit,

Poems born from Earth’s MotherOcean,

Poems rooted in the Wind,

Fruit sweetened by the Sky,

Boy who kneeled beneath the Sky

trusting the Fruit to ripen the Earth.

And Woman who is that Tree,

who merged her Sex with the Tree,

who planted her Roots to the Earth,

whose Lips are that Fruit

Boy could only taste.

Woman.

Tree.

Earth.

Boy

ripening into One,

bearing all the Sweetness

after the Fruit

ornaments him

again, to begin again.

1983

NYC