I’ve been working for years now on a novel in verse about Esau, about the whole Jacob/Esau story as understood from Esau’s point of view. The working title is The Water Bearer, from a line Rebecca says to her son Esau in the third part: You are a water bearer, Esau/with the strength/of a woman.

Every time I think the story or the book is done, I find more layers of meaning, or more work I need to do on the writing itself. Evolution, all is evolving, except that which is decaying, I guess.

Here you’ll find some of the individual poems about the main characters in the story and, as rewrites proceed, some parts of the story itself.