Poster Image

A woman climbs a wooden ladder to pick apples from a tree

$20

Item#: 2004SYR05

Purchase Details

11x17-inches, printed on heavy weight (100-pound) Hammermill cover paper. We package each print with a piece of chipboard in a clear plastic sleeve.

You also receive…

An information page with photos of the artist and poet, and hand-written comments from each.

Medium- and large-format posters are available by custom order. Contact us for details.

Poem Inspiration Location

Like Eve in Eden

poster information

Description

Like Eve in Eden
I wander apple—lush hills
dreaming my first bite

Because the poem was supposed to have a local flavor, I thought about the times in my life when I had been most filled with a feeling of beauty and awe. What came to mind was going to the Lafayette area, south of the city, to pick apples. I had a vision of the sky being really blue overhead, like it is here in the fall, and seeing trees laden with apples. My heart would just fly! And I would say to my children, “This is just like being in Eden!”

So the poem is about that experience, and also about the mythology around Eve. I'm intrigued by her desire.

I liked the imagery of this poem. Especially the first line. The effect was more visual for me than religious. It was a sensuous opening. I liked that.

Also, since we were given the assignment in fall, it was a great time for apple picking. Growing up in Central New York, I used to go apple picking, and that appealed to me—memories from childhood.

I took one of my roommates, Sarah, and drove to the Beak and Skiff Apple Farm, in Lafayette. She's the first person I thought of who could pose as the poem's Eve, because she's got that dramatic look. She had never been apple picking before. So it was nice to show her what it's like in Central New York, away from campus.