Genesis 1-5 (Abridged)
The Primordial Being by E-R Xi Stoddart
1. In Beginning
They went down to the water that sprang up
taking the remnants.
the mud, dirt, the stars
from some great explosion.
They threw me on the wheel- pinched and pulled and sung.
written as a “breath”
but what type of breath is silent completely?
They sang to me,
hummed a lullaby as a mother to an infant.
and I lived.
I remember I came to in Eden,
working my body to please the Body I had left.
connected to Them by a song I could not recall,
echoed in the slight exhale of my faces.
They said it was not good for me to be alone,
I needed a companion.
the opposite to go in front and push against me.
and so They created beings of the same mud as me.
bringing each only when it was finished.
and I did what I was told in wonder at Them
naming each as they came along.
the beings that growled and sung,
bit and leaped,
swam and flown,
got up from the wheel
and walked away.
but none were like me
with my faces and hands
walking on legs not numbered
from the moment I was made.
2. And so God put us down/The Being goes under
They did not tell me
or at least the scriptures mention nothing of telling
They did not say “you will go to sleep now.”
there was no burn of holy anesthesia,
just the fear as four eyes closed.
I suppose that I dreamt
dreamt dreams of splitting
splitting the two, fusing to two halves.
They said They “took a rib”
“took” like “seizing”
like “capturing”
like “being taken out of”
“taken away.”
They said They closed up the flesh at that point.
meaning I had a wound
meaning there was blood.
did I simply miss it seep into the ground I came from?
some morbid return home?
when I awoke, I felt my missing side
blinked a single pair of eyes
a body with two arms, legs
a body with one nose, mouth
and I screamed.
when They brought her to me
I cried
“this one, at last”
an at last for an ordeal being over
a “this one” as a sort of blame perhaps
or a welcome
for I knew she came from me.
“bone of my bone”
the world celebrated it!
“flesh of my flesh”
and on two unsteady legs,
I left my Creator to my wife
And clung to Her instead.
3. Memory
Perhaps I was always sleeping
or I just slept through and forgot.
when I awoke I was fearful.
but when I met the Creator, I met Him.
He called “this one, at last!”
and I knew I was welcome,
for We were forever joined.
when my husband and I walked in the garden
We met the serpent
leaning against The Tree.
I told Him we could not eat of it
(for despite it all I trusted our Creator)
and the serpent laughed.
“die, you will not die!
rather your eyes will be opened
and you will become like gods
knowing good and evil.”
and it was not the living that urged me,
nor the wisdom gained
nor the delight to my senses the fruit provided.
but rather it was the mention of eyes
for there was another memory
of two pairs of eyes
one in front
one behind.
and I craved the memory more than the fruit
I think my husband did too
for He took willingly from my hand.
for We wished to be like the Creator
to know Them better,
to know the why of the violence inflicted on us
despite the love They had for us
and the love We had for Them.
but We did not return to each other,
when our eyes opened they were not behind our head,
rather on our chests and loins
and We saw We were naked.
And We knew.
4. I saw a flaming sword
My mother says to the west there are cherubim,
Holding a flaming sword,
Guarding the gate of Eden.
She trembles in fear of them
And grasps her stomach
When I ask, she always says
“It’s just a phantom pain.”
My father speaks of time there
Tilling soil without toil
Naming every creature before him.
Yet he often wakes up screaming-
About false eyes on the back of his head.
I can’t imagine Eden
And neither can my brother
So I gave God the firstborn cattle I had raised.
And They were pleased.
But They didn’t lead us back to Eden.
My brother gave offering too,
A fruit from the ground he tilled.
Yet They looked to me in favor
And so my brother's eyes glinted,
He turned,
I followed.
Walking with him
I kept my eyes on the sun
And as it set
I turned to look closer to the west.
But in that sun I saw the sword.
And at its hilt my dear brother
Moving down
in one swing
the sun sharpened
My ears rang
My eyes closed.
And I was taken away.
5. 930/9:30
I read that the husband knew his wife.
She gave birth twice.
And one son killed the other.
And the husband knew his wife again
And she gave birth
When he was 130
We say the husband lived 930 years
Saying nothing more of her
But I imagine
It is time enough that the two reconciled
Wept together at the loss of what they once were.
I imagine the moment They died,
Upon the ground who shook
Where the earth split to swallow the bodies
Plates churned Them into dust
And the dust mixed:
I imagine once more They formed eyes
They formed stars
And the Two Beings separated
Were united once again.
And were returned to Eden.