A Literary Magazine in Support of the Jewish Community
Braids
According to the Talmud, God braided
Eve’s hair for her wedding. He served
as Adam’s groomsman, too, though I doubt
he made any ball & chain jokes—before the Fall
at least…. And yes, if they had a garden
wedding, there must have been a steamy wedding night—
every position given a made-up name that endless night
by Adam, with Eve’s input, of course. He unbraided
her hair slowly, as if each strand was a garden
snake released, there not to destroy but to serve
the cause of love, the abyss they so easily fell
into. The Talmud expresses no doubt
about this. Put aside all those doubts
about immodesty, decency, lady-of-the night
attire and fashion, the judgment that will fall
upon you, if you adorn yourself or braid
your hair. You do not serve
that master, who never halted mid-day in the garden
to note the sunlight dripping through the garden
leaves, splashing over, eradicating doubt
that this moment is in the service
of all others. That this night
beginning with two tight French braids
which swing in the breeze and fall
effortlessly down her back and will fall
along with her to the damp garden
floor. And the tips of those braids,
curling like question marks of doubt
will soon unravel—a way to prolong the night.
I remember, when we first met, how undeserving
I felt in her presence, how all nature served
our cause and how quickly I fell
in love, perhaps that very night
as we strolled, sloshing through the village gardens,
flooded that summer. The one thing I didn’t doubt,
as I touched and took in the bound-in scent of her braids.
Leonard Kress
Leonard Kress has published poetry, translations, non-fiction, and fiction in Missouri Review, Tupelo Quarterly, Massachusetts Review, Iowa Review, American Poetry Review, Harvard Review, and elsewhere. Among his collections are Craniotomy Sestinas (Kelsay Books, 2020), The Orpheus Complex (Main Street Rag, 2009), Walk Like Bo Diddley (Black Swamp Poetry Press, 2016), Living in the Candy Store and Other Poems (Encircle Publications, 2018), and his new verse translation of the Polish Romantic epic, Pan Tadeusz by Adam Mickiewicz (HarrowGate Press, 1986). He has received multiple grants from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and the Ohio Arts Council. He currently teaches at Temple University.
