adam and eve

in a garden
eve was betrayed by her thirst
her lovers silence
the words of a snake
that her husband once named

Adam gripped her hand
and listened, too
but he was thinking of her skin
her legs
the fruit of another tree

and so women are cursed
by all the words they say
and men are damned
by all the words they don’t

so, lover-
i will close my mouth
and you will open yours
we will crush these snakes together
and think of my skin
when you tell me ‘no’.