Origin Story by Kayla Beth Moore
Let the waters swarm, She said. And She set the birds to flight and the sea monsters She
delivered to the deep. Both waters swarmed and She saw that it was good. Let the earth creep,
She said. Cattle and all crawling things took to the land and the wild animals and the trees and
the fruits of the trees and the seeds of the fruits of the trees filled the earth, and She saw that it
was good. Let something very different happen, She said. Let there be a woman. Let there be a
mirror in her chest so that when she looks within she will see Me. Let her bones be heavy so that
she will look up to the swimming sky and to the birds therein with longing. When she wakes, let
her wake beside a man believing the heavy bones in her chest are his. Let her wake believing he
preceded her. And the woman woke and looked into the swimming sky and beside her to the
heavy man and she knew longing. And when she looked within all she saw was herself. And it
was very good.
Originally from the mountains of East Tennessee, Kayla Beth Moore is a graduate of Yale Divinity School and the MFA program at the University of Florida. She was the founding curator of the library at Grace Farms in New Canaan, CT. She lives and teaches in Atlanta, GA.
