Snakes in Her Hair

Medusa's story

is one that has been poured over

and over

pulling apart each letter until it is 

not 

a letter 

anymore

shared and split down the middle

and torn

should have been 

hers to tell

to speak 

but no

so 

maybe she needed to become a monster

she needed to become

of scales and snakes and scars

broken shards

and promises

to survive 

unwilling to let this broken person emerge

from a broken history

dead before she could splinter.

Maybe she was already a monster

before the curse ever touched her skin

solidified by a world that wanted her dead

or 

no longer innocent

no facade of control

no feeling of control

no control

at all.

Maybe monster was a blessing

a way of surviving 

breathing in suffocation

melting the cage where she was born;

expansive enough to not know it's presence

until you grow 

and it does not.

Maybe monster is not an insult to women

with snakes in their hair.