Kim Bridgford

Kim Bridgford is the director of the West Chester University Poetry Center and the West Chester University Poetry Conference. As editor of Mezzo Cammin, she was founder of the Mezzo Cammin Women Poets Timeline Project, which was launched at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington. Her latest book is Hitchcock's Coffin: Sonnets About Classic Films.

The Tree Of Life

They didn't eat of me. They ate the fruit
That dangled with a snake made resolute
To tempt the world. They didn't eat of me.
Yet I would offer immortality.

It's shocking—such a preferable choice,
And yet they listened to a writhing voice.
For once you eat of me you'll be like God.
I taste just like the lining of a cloud,
And like the sun, and like the shining planets.

The angels feast with airy smiles, for it's
Their life: all recognition recognized,
And all things holy now made undisguised.

The only thing I cannot do is die.
I'm told it tastes like ash, or a good-bye.