And the LORD God made garments of skins for the man and for his wife, and clothed them. Genesis 3:21
I like to imagine that those skins
from which garments were fashioned
were the skins of the snake
Skins God found in the undergrowth
of that perfect world of Eden
Shed because they were surplus to requirement
as the snake grew too big for its own skin
Skins that Eve wrapped around her
that would serve to remind her
of the choice she made
to expand her horizon
Choosing to gift all who came after
with autonomy
a wide and generous vista of hope and possibility.
And I imagine the thread the Divine Being used
in their stitchery
was sparkly
catching the light
casting a shimmering aura
wherever it was encountered
hinting at that great web of weaving women
whose labour encircles the universe.
And when Eve, who carried within her
the seed of all humanity
herself grew large
when her fecundity was realised
and her stretch marks
were etched on the snake skin
she, too, shed that skin
and struck out
beyond the confines of patriarchal subjugation
without a backwards glance.
As she placed her baby to her breast
she caught the sound of divine laughter in the suckling
and knew that never again
would she consent to wear
a skin that was not her own.
Liz Crumlish February 2026
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