Death Benefits Read online

  its tight green bud is eaten literally

  away by certain small herbivorous ants

  who swarm round the stubborn rind

  and nibble gently for weeks to release

  the implosion called a flower. If

  the tiny coral-colored ants have been

  destroyed, the bloom cannot unfist itself

  no matter how carefully forced to umbrage

  by the finest hothouse gardeners.

  Unrecognized, how recognizable:

  Each of us nibbling discreetly

  to release the flower,

  usually not even knowing

  the purpose—only the hunger;

  each mostly unaware of any others,

  sometimes surprised by a neighbor,

  sometimes (so rarely) astonished

  by a glimpse into one corner

  at how many of us there are;

  enough to cling at least, swarm back,

  remain, whenever we’re shaken

  off or drenched away

  by the well-meaning gardener, ignorant

  as we are of our mission, of our being

  equal in and to the task.

  Unequal to the task: a word

  like “revolution,” to describe

  what our drudge-cheerful midwifery

  will bring to bear—with us not here

  to see it, satiated, long since

  rinsed away, the job complete.

  Why then do I feel this tremble,

  more like a contraction’s aftermath

  release, relax, relief

  than like an earthquake; more

  like a rustling in the belly,

  or the resonance a song might make

  en route from brain to larynx—

  as if now, here, unleaving itself of all

  old and unnecessary outer layers

  butterfly from chrysalis

  snake from cast skin

  crustacean from shell

  baby from placenta

  something alive before

  only in Anywoman’s dreamings

  begins to stretch, arch, unfold

  each vein on each transparency opening proud,

  unique, unduplicate,

  each petal stiff with tenderness,

  each gauzy wing a different shading flecked

  ivory silver tangerine moon cinnamon amber flame

  hosannas of lucidity and love in a wild riot,

  a confusion of boisterous order

  all fragrance, laughter, tousled celebration—

  only a fading streak like blood

  at the center, to remind us we were there once

  but are still here, who dare,

  tenacious, to nibble toward such blossoming

  of this green stubborn bud

  some call a world.

  About the Author

  Award-winning poet, novelist, journalist, and feminist leader Robin Morgan has published more than twenty books, including the now-classic anthologies Sisterhood Is Powerful and Sisterhood Is Global and the bestselling The Demon Lover: The Roots of Terrorism. Her work has been translated into thirteen languages, among them Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Persian. A recipient of honors including a National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship, and former editor in chief of Ms., Morgan founded the Sisterhood Is Global Institute, and with Jane Fonda and Gloria Steinem, cofounded the Women’s Media Center. She writes and hosts Women’s Media Center Live with Robin Morgan, a weekly program with a global audience on iTunes and WMCLive.com—her commentaries legendary, her guests ranging from grassroots activists to Christiane Amanpour, Anita Hill, and President Jimmy Carter.

  All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion there of in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or here in after invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

  Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1981 by Robin Morgan

  Cover design by Mauricio Diaz

  ISBN: 978-1-5040-0688-0

  This edition published in 2015 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.

  345 Hudson Street

  New York, NY 10014

  www.openroadmedia.com

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