Most Read... Rebecca WattsThe Cult of the Noble Amateur
(PN Review 239)
John McAuliffeBill Manhire in Conversation with John McAuliffe
(PN Review 259)
Eavan BolandA Lyric Voice at Bay
(PN Review 121)
Patricia CraigVal Warner: A Reminiscence
(PN Review 259)
Vahni CapildeoOn Judging Prizes, & Reading More than Six Really Good Books
(PN Review 237)
Tim Parksin conversation with Natalia Ginzburg
(PN Review 49)
Next Issue James K. Baxter, Uncollected Poems Rod Mengham, Last Exit for the Revolution Stav Poleg, The Citadel of the Mind Jena Schmitt, Resting Places: The Writing-Life F Friederike Mayrocker Wayne Hill, Poems
Poems Articles Interviews Reports Reviews Contributors
PN Review 275
PN Review Substack

This poem is taken from PN Review 46, Volume 12 Number 2, November - December 1985.

Two Poems Carol Rumens

REVOLUTIONARY WOMEN

Nechayev, dreaming of Tsar-death,
wrote about three categories of women,
and how they could be harnessed to the cause.
The first he dismissed as painted, empty.
You could twist them, break them, toss them away.
The second were good comrades, passionate
idealists, willing workers,
but dangerous finally, and disappointing
- their values weren't political at all:
- they too must be discarded or reformed.
The third kind were the true revolutionaries;
deft with gun-oil, bullets, high explosive.
They'd take a lover only for his secrets,
milk him fast and leave him in his blood.

I know I'm with the second sort, cherishing
...


Searching, please wait... animated waiting image