Eve—from the Autobiography and Other Poems

Betsy Colquitt has long been recognized as one of Texas’ finest poets. With the publication of this collection, readers can see for the first time the full range of her work.

The “Eve” poems, which give the volume its title, are new in substance and tone. This exciting sequence traces the life of the first woman from her creation by the “Great Mother,” through the years in the Garden of Eden, where Eve helps bring Adam out of the mud of Mother Earth, down to the present, as Eve looks at life and comments from the perspective of wise and eternal Woman. At the end of the sequence, Eve is seen in the Big Bend of Texas, a land different, yet strangely like, the first Garden.

The second section of the book includes poems published in Colquitt’s 1980 collection, Honor Card, and the third section, “New and Uncollected Poems,” explores subjects ranging from art and architecture to home and family.