D.J. Enright

from Paradise Illustrated

XIII

Sighing through all her works,
Nature gave signs of woe.
Earth trembled from her entrails,
Nature gave a second groan

                                *
'What's that strange noise?' asked Eve.

'Nothing to worry about,' said Adam.
'Just cataclysms, convulsions, calamities -'

'Don't talk with your mouth full,' said Eve.

'Donner-und Blitzen, coups-de-foudre, infernos,
Avalanches, defoliation, earthquakes, eruptions,
Tempests, turbulence, typhoons and torrents,'
Said Adam airily.

'And floods. Or do I mean droughts?'
He added uncertainly. 'Also perhaps inclemency.'

'The Snake was right about one thing,'
Eve observed. 'It loosens the tongue.'

XXII

'Why didn't we think of clothes before?'
Asked Adam,
Removing Eve's.

'Why did we ever think of clothes?'
Asked Eve,
Laundering Adam's.

I was never a particular fan of Enright but I have always liked this collection. Published in 1978, I have wondered if it was heavily influenced by Ted Hughes' Crow of 1972. Hard not to be I would guess. There is in XIII the bitterness of its satirical take on Milton and I think more generally the Adam and Eve myth, along with the litany of predominantly natural catastrophes, that emulates so much of the dark diatribe in Crow [which I must stress is a massive favourite of mine]. It is often lightened in a way that Crow isn't, however, by the comic playfulness of brief interludes like  XXII.