The Beginning According to Mrs. God

The Beginning According to Mrs. God Lily Greenberg (bio) was a messof drool and semen and teeth.Leaves everywhere. Ginkgoes reekingthat rancid butter stink. And toad spawnplanted in the pores of mother's back.And blackhead birth. And hagfish slime. You who want the beginning to be clean as a word—but this was before words. In the beginning I was an eyecrusted over—each time I blinkedthe day and night drew closer together as ifhuddling around a fire. There was no light thenonly green water, glitteringclouds, that sleepy feeling of eyesclosed on a rock. No darkness but redwoodshade, caves of breath, no moon night. No seasons—just deathof organs to dirt to sprouts. In the beginning I was oneboar carcass and vultures andthousands of boars running. In the beginning I was a finchtossing finches out of the nest.Some became sky. Some turned to stone. [End Page 46] I know you want to fallfrom a first world of undivided light.I know you want to get back but I'm telling you—in the beginning we losteverything many times over,we died and died. Trust me— there's nothing to get back to. [End Page 47] Note: The phrase "to fall from a first world of undivided light" was closely inspired by a line from Robert Hass's poem "Meditation at Lagunitas." Lily Greenberg Lily Greenberg is a poet from Nashville, Tennessee, and the author of In the Shape of a Woman (Broadstone Books, 2022). She holds an MFA from the University of New Hampshire and lives in Nyack, New York. Copyright © 2023 Middlebury College