I have tasted the apple

the long version

There is a wild vulnerability in the poetry of Mary Crow that allows her to be both passionate and horrified. In I Have Tasted The Apple, Crow tells of her experience traveling through South America, Eastern Europe and the Middle East, territories marked by political upheaval and social unrest. Crow's poems speak to the danger of a middle-aged woman traveling alone and to the dilemma of choosing flight or bearing witness. She writes in "About Women" - "He reaches out and breaks the wishbone: .../Behind him his shadow/ is growing floppy and fat, blurred/ In a minute, he will lick my hand." Crow's poetry challenges us to resist becoming anesthetized to violence and suffering, and affirms that the human spirit can overcome adversity.