creation

if you're born from the ground          the whole earth is your home

this is how you're created                 by a god yellow with newness

right now god is only a man right now god is only a name

right now god is only painting                   a self-portrait

               when he spills purple flesh so that house becomes body,

pulls     red elbows     &      knees      from the sky so the ground

feels closer; this is            how god creates adam.

and this is how god creates you         his canvas still too empty

his canvas still too pink              because god is an artist after all

and this is how god creates you              fingerprinting

in the dirt young sun slipping from the sky       you rise

brown      &      trembling      &       solid and this is how god creates you.

if you're born from the ground, you rise              covered in blood

                   this is how you enter paradise; adam calls you dirty but

you don't know what that means. this is how you become

snake tongue,                              first woman.

this is how you learn to love: like discovering limbs for the first time,

unfolding a body                  to find it undulates like an ocean wave

and arrives at your feet,           [soft]        &       [unselfish]

but god never taught adam           how to swim.

this is how you learn to love and worship at the same time

unspoken gossamer prayers on your lips, hooked hips

the dirtiest        holy thing                 holy communion

             bread and wine,              pulling unburnt offerings

from your spine until you can't walk anymore, until you

bleed out              wine              in between your thighs, until

your flesh leavens and adam takes        all         the bread.

this is how you mistake       [gravity]    for       [love]

fall for him         like objects           are wont to do

             this is how god convinces you your tears are

[the ocean] though you've never seen water before

if you're born from the ground,              you grow

                                         with day coursing through your veins

it's dawn              and you pour over adam like an egg yolk, learn

he tastes like sour milk, know only fools starve in the garden of eden

now it's            noon              & too hot not to indulge;

this is how god creates time              but doesn't account for desire,

creates           woman          but doesn't know how to control her.

this is how you love a man: try to fit yourself inside of him,

try not to breathe             this is how you fit lilies in between your teeth

             this is how you eat    yellow flowers    for lunch

this is how you make border lines with              your scars

this is how you create language               from your body

turn      [sin]     to     [sing]    and breathe a purple song

turn    [heathen]     to     [heaven]     and leave eden

turn             [lilies]          to                lilith

                                     and reclaim yourself.

this is how to leave a man            and if they try to drown you

             this is how you become

                                                       the sea

if you're born from the ground           you're tethered to no man

this is how you ask adam              if the space between his ribs

             still aches              this is how you're remembered

even when you're not in any              holy book

this is how you love yourself without anyone teaching you how

if you're born from the ground               the whole earth is your home

             and this,              this is how you create.

by KELLY HUI