Sample poems from ‘Outside Temple Boundaries’

Final draft

I try putting man to the north
and woman to the east
in between large moss covered boulders
self seeded olives and the fog

I make the usual wager with the snake

overall changes to the original plot are small
it is true that Eden has become an obstacle course
but the course of true love …
and although I have been unable
to alter the hallucinogenic properties
of the fruit grown here loneliness drives me
to make them less and less appetizing

woman finds me first this time bringing
an offering not of fruit but of salad
made from the few herbs I planted
between the rocks in tiny hopeful clusters

I am pleased and eat of the salad
and at once my eyes are opened
and I want the woman
but already she is fading explaining
how she taught herself to press the fruit
to make the salad dressing
how man hid himself from her

I know this ending by heart and ask again

tell me what do I look like?

but the woman is gone
and the snake is a smile
and only the fog is real