Between Michael Hicks and Me: “Family Tree” Remix

In which I respond to and remix the first section of Michael Hicks’ poem, “Family Tree.”

Scales hoarse as secrets
whispered between lovers
at dusk, a serpent—and not 
a serpent—licks at Adam’s 
dreams, tasting his flesh 
to test what knowledge 
had infused the first man in 
Father’s quickening sigh. 

Adam hears voices 
from deep in the serpent’s 
caress, hears a thousand 
thousand half-truths split 
a thousand thousand tongues 
slippery with the blood 
of a thousand thousand worlds 

before Eve wakes him with 
the scent of a half-eaten 
quince and a new name 
he will only recall in 
the half-light between his dreams.