Twice-born
- Twice-born
I
The thyroid glandis shaped like a butterfly,stretching its lobes like wingsacross the sides of the neck,so that the shaking of one wing,even a minor fluttering, mightcause it to lift offthrough the top of the head.
II
When they opened my mother'sneck to cut hers out,they found it shriveled,broken-winged. The cuton her neck looked like someonewanted the breathright out of her.
III
The butterfly,usually twice-born,falls tired and curls a headtoward a tail, dissolving into the materialof itself, its fresh green skinmelting to flashing scales. Her thyroidfolded its wings around its body sleepily, [End Page 108] and dreamt that it was morethan itself.
IV
My mother was rebornsilently, growingfrom the material of herself,all of this chaotic multiplying.
This is metamorphosis gone wrong,cancer, that unstoppablebirth, cells born, born,born-again,a swarm of butterflies burstingfrom a single cell.
V
One million chrysaliseshang like a row of bats on a branch.Newly alive, they crackthrough their clear cages,the booming soundof that many wings breakingthrough. Millions of darkshining bodies hoverabove, diving and swirling,swarms of shadows in motion. [End Page 109]
Lia Greenwell is a third year student at Michigan State University majoring in English and Arts & Humanities. She has worked in The Center for Poetry at MSU for the last three years. This is her first publication.
