Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Marge Piercy's poem "Return to Life" is a fierce and eloquent declaration of bodily autonomy and resistance against the commodification and control of women's bodies. Through vivid metaphors and powerful imagery, Piercy critiques societal and legislative attempts to regulate women's reproductive rights, highlighting the deep personal and political implications of such control.

The poem begins with a comparison that immediately sets the tone: "A woman is not a pear tree / thrusting her fruit into mindless fecundity / into the world. Even pear trees bear / heavily one year and rest and grow the next." This analogy underscores that women, unlike fruit trees, should not be seen as mindless producers of offspring. The mention of pear trees bearing fruit intermittently emphasizes the natural cycles of rest and regeneration, contrasting with societal expectations for continuous reproduction.

Piercy extends this critique by rejecting various reductive analogies: "A woman is not a basket you place / your buns in to keep them warm. Not a brood / hen you can slip duck eggs under. / Not the purse holding the coins of / your descendants till you spend them in wars." Each metaphor dismantles the notion of women as mere vessels or property. The imagery of a basket, a brood hen, and a purse highlights how women are often dehumanized and treated as objects for others' use and benefit.

The poem's critique broadens to include the exploitation of natural resources, drawing parallels between environmental destruction and the violation of women's rights: "You slice / the mountain in two for a road and gouge / the high plains for coal and the waters / run muddy for miles and years." This imagery connects the exploitation of the earth to the exploitation of women's bodies, emphasizing the pervasive nature of such control.

Piercy directly addresses the political and legislative control over women's bodies: "Now you legislate mineral rights in a woman. / You lay claim to her pastures for grazing, / fields for growing babies like iceberg / lettuce." This metaphor of legislating "mineral rights" in a woman critiques the dehumanizing laws that treat women's bodies as commodities for reproduction, akin to agricultural fields.

The poem's tone becomes increasingly confrontational as Piercy exposes the hypocrisy of a society that claims to value children but fails to provide for them: "You value children so dearly / that none ever go hungry, none weep / with no one to tend them when mothers / work, none lack fresh fruit, / none chew lead or cough to death and your / orphanages are empty." This passage starkly contrasts the idealized rhetoric of pro-life advocates with the harsh realities faced by many children, pointing out the lack of genuine care and support.

Piercy then paints a grim picture of the consequences of restricting reproductive rights: "At this moment at nine o'clock a partera / is performing a table top abortion on an / unwed mother in Texas who can't get Medicaid / any longer. In five days she will die / of tetanus and her little daughter will cry / and be taken away." This tragic scenario underscores the dire, life-threatening situations that arise from denying women safe and legal access to abortion.

The poem culminates in a powerful assertion of autonomy and the interconnectedness of societal well-being: "We are all born of woman, in the rose / of the womb we suckled our mother's blood / and every baby born has a right to love / like a seedling to the sun." Piercy emphasizes the fundamental right of every child to be born into a loving environment. She warns of the long-term consequences of neglecting this right: "Every baby born / unloved, unwanted, is a bill that will come / due in twenty years with interest, an anger / that must find a target, a pain that will / beget pain."

The poem ends with a resolute declaration of personal sovereignty: "I will choose what enters me, what becomes, / flesh of my flesh. Without choice, no politics, / no ethics lives. I am not your cornfield, / not your uranium mine, not your calf / for fattening, not your cow for milking." Piercy rejects all forms of ownership and exploitation of her body, asserting that her life and choices are inviolable.

"Return to Life" by Marge Piercy is a powerful and uncompromising defense of women's rights and bodily autonomy. Through compelling metaphors and searing critique, Piercy articulates the essential connection between personal freedom and broader social justice, asserting the non-negotiable nature of individual sovereignty.

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