Those 2 first women
Eve and Pandora
if they had met
after the fruit was bitten
and the jar opened
what would they say
to each other
sisters in shame
betrayed by inner natures
so similar
one engineered from dust and water
and the other a rib
Eve, with her bitten fruit
tasted death, suffering,
but also knowing
and Pandora
loosed all evil
into the world
but kept hope;
she earned no curse
and passed none
to her daughters–
not so, our Eve
but why is trouble
laid on female heads
and blame
when, without balanced willingness
to sample temptation
or peek inside something sealed
we would be without hope
and ignorant of it
Susan Daniels Poetry 
Why indeed!! Perfect Susan. Absolutely the right question. Why? If I had to hazard a guess…two part….one, women can handle the answer. two…women can handle the consequences.
🙂 well said!
🙂
Agreed. Agreed. Agreed.
Thanks, Jeremy!
Very well said.
Thank you so much!
you take poetry to another level! Philosophy, religion and gender meet! And thanks for this new freudian perspective on Pandora’s box!
Thank you, Noel! Always appreciate your comments–that piece of art above, and my research re. an article written for an art magazine prompted this 🙂
I remember still a wonderful course I attended with Jacob Needleman in San Francisco about Jewish Mysticism. And the interpretation offered us of the role of Eve in this “Fall” and the blame attributed to her ever since as the weak, vulnerable woman who brought strong, capable man low. But Needleman shared with us a quite different, simple interpretation: Why did Satan not offer his temptation first to Adam? Because he knew that of the two, it was Eve who was the foundation, the strength of character, and to bring down man, which is easy when man is on his own, Satan would first need to destroy the foundation to bring down the structure of mankind — the foundation that was Eve. If you would not mind my Scots, to tempt man to do something he should not is a piece of piss. The real challenge is tempting woman to stray.
Well said, George! I like this interpretation of the fall very much.
Great questions and quite telling that you wrote jar and not box
Yes–more accurate telling of the myth, and a bit more Freudian 🙂
A very though-provoking piece! It often annoys me that women are demonized and vilified in such a way and often do it to each other too. For example, a man cheats but the two women involved blame each other instead of the man. Basic example, but relevant! Well done.
LOL, not me–I would blame the cheating SOB 🙂
Chances would be that the “other woman” would have no clue I existed, so why blame her?
You are an amazing writer !!! Awesome !!!
oh my, more blushes–thank you!
nice work with this one. and yes, you work the philosphies and religion nicely:)
Don, thanks so very much!
In context its supremely beautifully expressed~ Doctrinally I disagree, the fall was a drop downward then, forward ! Wonderful poetry!
Thanks, Deb–yes, I hope Father will forgive my creative use of character to make a point…
it is rather a shame that these stories have brought shame to women on some level…temptation is surely something that affects us all so it was only a matter of time…and in the end where would we be without ….
Yes, exactly.
you have some really interesting thoughts in here…there are parallels and contradictions and you balance them well
Thank you so much, Claudia!
Everyone blames Eve and Pandora for all the ills in the world but, I also agree with George, that without evil, how would we know good if we have it? Without despair, how would we know happiness? I think it is all a matter of balance and we need each to achieve it. Light and dark. Yin Yang, good bad. One can’t exist without the other and as George states, God knew that the man would stray as soon as his back was turned and the woman was the real hard nut to crack.
Exceptional write Susan.
Thanks so much for the comment, and I am in agreement with you and George. We need to know the one to appreciate the other. I had to write it, as soon as I saw the art (interviewed the artist for a local magazine piece, and this piece shouted at me!).
Love the blending of creation stories, the comparison of Eve and Pandora–the blame heaped on women. The lecture I was listening to oin which I learned about merism was about the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil…so a big part of our need to learn is another outcome of Eve’s choice…the desire to know. Nicely done, Susan.
Victoria–thanks so much! This came out of a quick idea I had after meeting the artist. I came home, wrote my article, and had a conversation with a friend about what would have happened if Eve and Pandora could have met for lunch somewhere 🙂
Good point: “she earned no curse
and passed none
to her daughters”
Great point: “when, without balanced willingness
to sample temptation
or peek inside something sealed
we would be without hope
and ignorant of it”
I really enjoyed this creative response to the prompt.
Thanks so much! Believe it or not, I actually had a piece already written that fit this so well, had to use the one I had. That NEVER happens to me 🙂
I am really enjoying your perspective, cool art, great poetry!
Anna, thank you so much–loving getting to know you through your poetry, too!
GREAT LANDING!
“:when, without balanced willingness
to sample temptation
or peek inside something sealed
we would be without hope
and ignorant of it”
A more balanced view.
And what was it that Pandora and Eve would say to each other? “Thanks for staying through tea”?
Oh, Susan, you are going to make me write that other poem where they do have a chat… the muse is already whispering! Wonder what they would have had for lunch?
‘… balanced willingness /
to sample temptation’
I love these lines / sentiments
Thank you, Polly.
Brilliantly written. Such simple language, so much conveyed!
thank you!
good question! you make an eloquent argument… perhaps we’ll know someday
Thanks, Ruth 🙂
imagine being a caterpillar, being prepared to crack the chrysalis and face change. both women face change. nice balance poem =)
That is a really wonderful contrast, and one I find especially intriguing and mysterious. I of course don’t believe Eve was responsible any more than Adam for what happened, but you are right to bring up the shameful that story has been used to shame and condemn women for all the evils in the world. Pandora herself might be a tragic character, perhaps heroine, though the story suggests that she could not maintain her hubristic desires. Fortunately, as you note, we have hope in both cases. I think your poem is wonderfully crafted and pointed with wonderful insights.
Thank you for the depth of your comment, love it. I personally believe the responsibility should fall on both shoulders (Eve’s and Adam’s), but you are correct in that Eve’s shadowy figure is pointed to across time as a reason to shame, blame, and oppress. Perhaps we should be grateful to both “mothers,” in the sense that one brought us hope, and the other the promise of forgiveness, and they should be celebrated as such bringers, not blamed.
Interesting concept and very well written! I never guessed at what a conversation between these two women would be like!
Thank you! I am so glad the art, the article, and a conversation about both with a friend triggered this exploration 🙂