Reprieve
Ani Difranco

Manhattan is an island

Like the women who are

Surrounded by children in a car

Surrounded by cars


Or Manhattan was a project

That projected the worst of mankind

First, one and then the other

Has made its mark on my mind


It's sixty years later

Near the hypo-center of the A-bomb

I'm in the middle of Hiroshima

Watching a twisted old Eucalyptus tree wave


One of the very few lives

That survived and lives on

Remembering the day it was suddenly

Thousands of degrees in the shade


And what all of nature gave birth to

Terror took in a blinding ray

With the kind of pain

It would take cancer so many years just to say


Oh, to grow up gagged and blindfolded

A man's world in your little girl's head

The voice of the great Mother drowned out

In the constant honking

Haunting the car crash up ahead


Oh, to grow up hypnotized

And then try to shake yourself awake

'Cuz you can sense what has been lost

'Cuz you can sense what is at stake


Yeah, so it took me a few years to catch on

That those days I catch everyone's eye

Correspond with those nights of the month

When the moon gleams like an egg in the sky


And men are using a sense

They don't even know they have

Just to watch me walk by

And me, I'm supposed to be sensible

Leave my animal outside to cry


But when all of nature conspires

To make me her glorious whore

It's 'cuz in my body, I hold the secret recipe

Of precisely what life is for


And the patriarchy that looks to shame me for it

Is the same one making war

And I've said too much already

But I'll tell you something more


To split yourself in two

Is just the most radical thing you can do

So girl, if that shit ain't up to you

Then you simply are not free


'Cuz from the sunlight on my hair

To which eggs I grow to term

To the expression that I wear

All I really own is me


Yes, to split yourself in two

Is just the most radical thing you can do

Goddess forbid, that little atom

Should grow so jealous of Eve


And in the face of the great farce

Of the nuclear age

Feminism ain't about equality

It's about reprieve


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Lyrics by Ani Difranco

  'Tis of Thee   1,000,000   2nd Intermission   32 Flavors   32 Flavors [Live][*]   4th of July   78% H20   78% H2O   A Spade   ¿Which Side Are You On?   ¿Which Side Are You On?   Adam and Eve   Aids   Ain't That The Way   Akimbo   Albacore   Alla This   Allergic to Water   Amazing Grace   Amendment   Angel Food   Angry Any More   Angry Any.   Angry Anymore   Animal   Anticipate   Anyday   As Is   Asked You First   Asked You First (live)   Asking Too Much   Astronaut (feat. Radiohead)   Astronaut (Ft Radiohead)   Back Around   Back Back Back   Beautiful Night   Bliss Like This   Blood in the Boardroom   Bodily   Born a Lion   Both Hands   Both Hands (Live In Austin, Texas)   Both Hands [Live in Austin, Texas]   Both Hands [Live in Austin, Texas]   Both Hands [New Version]   Brief Bus Stop   Brief Bus Stop [*]   Bubble   Building And Bridges   Buildings & Bridges   Buildings and Bridges   Callous   Carry You Around   Christians & Pegans   Christians and Pagans   Circe of Light   Circle of Light   Cloud Blood   Cloud Blood?   Cold & Mean   Cold And Mean   Cold And Mean (Answering Machine)   Come Away   Come Away From It   Comfortably Numb (Pink Floyd cover)   Coming Up   Company   Cradle & All   Cradle & All   Cradle & All   Cradle and All   Cradle And All (Live)   Crime for Crime   Decree   Deep Dish   Dilate   Diner   Distracted   Dithering   Do Re Me   Do Re Me (Woody Guthrie cover)   Do Re Me (Woody Guthrie cover)   Dog Coffee   Don't Nobody Know   Done Wrong   Educated G.   Educated Guess   Egos Like Hairdos   Egos Like Hairdos (Live)   Emancipated   Emancipated Minor   Everest   Every Angle   Every State Line   Evolve   Evolve - Album: Evolve   Face up & Sing   Face Up And Sing   Fair Weather   Falling Is Like This   Feakshow   Fierce Flawless   Find A Fire   Fire Door   Fixing Her Hair   Flood Waters   Forest For the Trees   Freakshow   Fuel   Fuel (spoken Word)   Garden Of Simple   Glass House   God's Country   Going Down   Going Once   Good Luck   Good, Bad, Ugly   Grand Canyon   Gratitude   Gravel   Grey   Half-Assed   Handsome Musician   Happy All the Time   Harder Than It Needs To Be   Harvest   Hat Shaped Hat   Hear The Train   Hearse   Heart Break Even   Heartbreak Even   Hell Yeah   Hello Birmingham   Here for Now   Here For Now - Album: Evolve   Hide & Seek (is The Zygote Song!!)   Hide & Seek   Hide And Seek   Hide Seek   Hour Follows Hour   How Have You Been   How Long Can It Last   Hurricane   Hurricane (Bob Dylan cover)   Hurricane (Bob Dylan cover)   Hypnotized   I Know This Bar   I'm No Heroine   Icarus   Icarus - Album: Evolve   If He Tries Anything   If It Isn't Her   If Yr Not   Imagine That   Imperfectly   In Here   In or Out   In The Margins   In the Margins   In the Way   In The Way - Album: Evolve   Independence Day   Itch   J   Joyful Girl   Joyful Girl (Danger And Uncertainty Mix)   Joyful Girl (Live With The Buffalo Philharmonic)   Joyful Girl (Peace And Love Extended Mix)   Joyful Girl (Peace And Love Mix)   Joyful Girl [Live]   Joyful Girl [Live]   Jukebox   Kazoointoit   Know Now Then   Knuckle Down   Lag Time   Landing Gear   Letter to a John   Letting the Telephone Ring   Letting the Telephone Ring [*]   Life Boat   Light of Some Kind   Little Plastic Castle   Looking for the Holes   Loom   Lost Woman Song   Lullaby   Make Me Stay   Make Them Apologize   Manhole   Mariachi   Mariachi   Marrow   Millennium Theater   Minerva   Modulation   Most Of The Time   Most Of The Time (accompanied On Violin By Cregan ...   My I Q   My I.Q.   My IQ   My Name Is Lisa Kalvelage   Names & Dates   Names & Dates   Names and Dates and Times   Napoleon   Napoleon [New Version]   Napoleon [New Version]   Nicotine   No Reason To Come Home   North Main Street   Not a Pretty Girl   Not Angry Anymore   Not So Soft   O My My   O My My - Album: Evolve   O. K.   O.K.   Oh My My   Old Old Song   On Every Corner   One More Night   One Times One Times One   Origami   Origami - Educated Guess Album   Out of Habit   Out of Range   Out Of Range (electric Version)   Out of Range (Electric)   Out of Range [Acoustic]   Out of Range [Electric]   Outa Me, Onto You   Outta Me, Onto You   Overlap   Overlap [New Version]   Overlap [New Version]   Pale Purple   Paradigm   Parameters   Perfect Fingers   Phase   Phase - Album: Evolve   Pick Yer Nose   Pixie   Pixie (Be Nice)   Platforms   Present Infant   Present/Infant   Prison Prism   Promiscuity   Promised Land   Promised Land - Album: Evolve   Providence   Pulse   Rain check   Raincheck   Rainy Parade   Reckoning   Recoil   Red Letter Year   Reprise   Revelling   Rock Paper Scissors   Rockabye   Roll With It   Round A Pole   Rush Hour   School Night   Second Intermission   Second Intermission - Album: Evolve   See See See See   Seeing Eye Dog   Self Evident   Serpentine   Serpentine - Album: Evolve   Served Faithfully   Shameless   Shameless (Bathtub Mix)   Shameless [New Version]   Shameless [New Version]   She Says   Shroud   Shroud   Shrug   Shrug - Album: Evolve   Shy   Sick Of Me   Silver Ingrid   Sistersong   Slide   Slide - Album: Evolve   Small World   Smiling Underneath   So What   Soft Shoulder   Sorry I Am   Splinter   Star Matter   Still My Heart   Studying Stones   Subconscious   Subdivision   Submerged   Subway   Sunday Morning   Superhero   Swan Dive   Swandive   Swim   Swim - Album Educated Guess   Swing   Swing (Radio Set)   Swing [Album Version]   Swing [Radio Set]   Talk To Me Now   Tamburitza Lingua   That Was My Love   The Arrivals Gate   The Atom   The Boys In Blue   The Diner   The Internationale   The Million You Never Made   The Million You Never Made [#]   The Next Big Thing   The Slant   The Story   The True Story Of What Was   The Waiting Song   The Whole Night   This Bouqet   This Bouquet   This Box Contains...   This Box Contains...   Tip Toe (outtakes)   Tiptoe   To Be Free   To the Teeth   To the Teeth [Shoot-Out Remix]   Tr’w   Travel Tips   Trickle Down   True Story Of What Was   Two Little Girls   Unforgettable   Unrequited   Untouchable Face   Unworry   Up Up Up Up Up Up   Used Cars   Used to You   Virtue   Waiting For Susan   Way Tight   Welcome To   Welcome to :   Welcome To:   Welcome To: - Album: Evolve   What How When Where   What How When Where (Why Who)   What If No One's Watching   Whatall Is Nice   Whatever   When Doves Cry   When Doves Cry (Prince cover)   When I'm Gone   Wherever   Which Side Are You On   Which Side Are You On?   Willing to Fight   Wish I May   Wishin' & Hopin'   Wishin' And Hopin'   Woe Be Gone   Work Your Way Out   Worthy   Wrong With Me   Yeah Yr Right   You Each Time   You Had Time   Your House   Your Next Bold Move   Your Next Bold Move [New Version]   Your Next Bold Move [New Version]   Zoo

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