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Medusa by Matthew Sisson
CW: suicide
After Perseus with Head of Medusa (Benvenuto Cellini, 1545-1554)
Ugly baby. Hideous adolescent.
Grotesque woman. I was body
shamed by peers, and strangers.
Ignored, and finally invisible,
I faced nothing but bullying
and social exclusion. The only
thing I ever heard from a man:
Let’s be friends. I did not conform
to the, so called, standards of femininity.
Look at the sculpture. How he holds
my head aloft in triumph. Gloats, naked,
his body perfection, atop the contorted pile
that was once my flesh.
There was no escape from my suffering.
My final thoughts were of my mother.
Suicide by Greek god. The snakes have
finally stopped their unholy hissing.