We Are Eve
— Bryan Sykes, The Seven Daughters of Eve
At a Glance
- • A poem that walks backwards through the maternal line — mother, grandmother, great-grandmother — to Helena and Eve, tracing mitochondrial descent as both genetic fact and myth.
- • Author: Olivera Andonoska
- • Form: Free verse, short stepped lines with repeated “back / back / back”
- • Collection: We Are Eve
- • Theme: The mitochondrial line and the seven daughters of Eve
- • Epigraph: Bryan Sykes, The Seven Daughters of Eve
I walk backwards
back
back
back
I meet
my mother
my grandmother
my great-grandmother
and her mother
with rusty hair
dreamy eyes
she who always wakes
in different worlds
I collide
with her mother
with a smile like resin
she who knows my deeds
has been waiting for me
I go
I go
I go
backwards
and her mother's mother
and her mother's
grandmother
great-grandmother
great-great-grandmother
all those grandmothers of mine
back
back
back
I go
and I find Helena
her name is a code
her hair smells of waves
– I am one, or I'm oneness with the seven daughters of Eve –
that is how I understand her
I know her language without really knowing it
Eve!?
a step back
…
and I arrive
at the edge of return
— We are Eve —
as I understand
Eve with the breath of eternity
Eve with pearly teeth
— From the juice of the apple
…
I look at her
I recognize her eyes, though I do not know them
— The flavour under the tongue
brought me to you, Eve
is all of this a myth … mythos … μῦθος?
— Mitos … μῖτος —
the thread upon which the myth walks
…
mitochondria
…
weaving into me.
embracing me within
and we are One
and All are me
we go
go
go
as-one
like One
About Olivera Andonoska
Olivera Andonoska (b. 1980, Prilep, North Macedonia) is a philologist and proofreader specializing in the Macedonian language. She is the author of the poetry collection We Are Eva, which received the Antevo Pero Award in 2025, and the short story collection How I Killed Vera and How She Was Reborn. She has also published children’s books. Her poetry and prose have appeared in literary magazines, and she has participated in literary festivals. In addition to her own writing, Andonoska works as an editor on a range of publications.
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