This poem is from Rebecca Gayle Howell’s new book, Erase Genesis, published by SMU Project Poëtica/Bridwell Press in 2026. She describes her project this way: “Erase Genesis is a series of poems I’m making from the Book of Genesis. In the collection I am creating simultaneous redactions of the ancient creation myths. What I’m finding is that, as I redact the same chapters in different ways, the poems are working together to reveal a new story. Our inherited interpretation of Genesis is that we humans have the right to dominate the Earth and all that is in it. Emerging here is a new myth, one calling me to surrender to the Earth’s endowed intelligence for wholeness, for love.”