More Than A Myth

Phorcys and Ceto, two siblings so close,

They birthed three healthy gorgons out of passionate throes.

Two of the girls had interests that align,

Stheno and Euryale, made of similar design.

The third little girl often faced life alone,

Medusa, who found evil in a ‘hero’s’ testosterone.   

 

Cursed with beauty men mistook for consent,

She was raped by Poseidon in his niece’s place of frequent.

Athena, his niece, with daddy issues of her own,

Punished Medusa with ugliness too foul to be shown.  

 

First condemned for her temptation,

Then proclaimed an abomination,

Medusa’s reputation was shaped by her inducing of arousal.

So, blinded with rage, did her interest in protection she espousal. 

 

Centuries pass and we think ourselves tame,

These are things of the past, we aren’t to blame.

Try not to think of the stories we hear

Of girls who reject men then promptly disappear.

 

Think of how easy it’d be to foresee

A more modern take of Medusa’s story.

An unforunate child who was born of incest

Whose best friend’s uncle ignored her protests.

When the friend had learned of her uncle’s misdeeds,

Chose Medusa's reputation as the thing to impede.

 

Made out to be a beast over a trauma so vile,

Treated by her only friend so insanely hostile.

This isn’t a remarkable tale,

Talk to a handful of women and hear the horrors they’ll regale.

 

I’m Medusa on nights when I walk late at night.

I’m Medusa when I ignore their catcalls out of spite.

Snakes hiss from my curls when an unwelcome touch descends,

Medusa’s more than a myth, so much more than pretend.

 

 

This poem is about: 
Me
My community
My country
Our world
Poetry Terms Demonstrated: 

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