Ekphrastic Poem After “Pro Life” Anne Herraro Rachel Gramza

Are you happy now? 

I am laid bare before 

Jagged stone and murky waters. 

I have turned my face in disdain 

from what you have so generously 

Gifted to me. 

 

Is it a gift 

to be given something 

bigger than myself 

all consuming. 

 

You would take everything 

Take the calcium from my bones, 

Take the oxygen from my blood, 

And take the carmine from my cheeks 

 

And now what? 

As I lay here trembling, 

The ichor soaked weapon in my hand. 

The tool of my incrimination, 

No. My liberation. 

 

You will never take me alive.