The Medusa Experience

Medusa
lurking inside everybody;
that glee of petrifying.
Even when you don’t consider
yourself a bully; think of your kid sister
and how satisfying tormenting
in retaliation could sometimes be,
and how, occasionally, you’d attempt
to make her freeze in irritating tracks:
stop that or I’ll tell dad when he gets back.
Our planet is just one big vent
spewing out disturbing mythology.

Likewise, a wannabe hero
resides inside every kid, even the one

who cries out her eyes every time
the jack-in-a-box provides life
with a predictable surprise. Pop
goes the weasel and pop goes everywhere
when the rabbit wearing glasses gets
his drink shook up in the cafeteria; their
aggressive laughter isn’t what drives
him to consider suicide at the age of five –
it’s looking into the future and seeing nothing
but being the butt of all primitive joking
until here comes the coffin and even
now there’s sniggering, when the vicar can’t
remember his name and they make shovelling
the dirt into some kind of game and he can’t complain
because he’s been frozen silent in blank-faced
pain for the last time.

 

He’s ashamed
when the girl who shrieks at wind-up toys
instead of just choosing a different game
comes to his aid - standing in his lemonade
puddle - and calls the killjoys mean boys,
but what he’s mistaken for stupidity is actually
bravery, because every day she chooses to play
with the jack-in-the-box until she overcomes
the fear, for she knows it’s irrational
and this is rehearsal for the outside world
because society’s a scary place and it takes
overwhelming courage to step off the porch
and into the angry mob torch that will scorch
you every minute, melting protective coating
until there’s nothing left of it. Rare things
are precious, like a modern-day Perseus
who will stand by your side for the next
fifteen years, telling all the Medusas
no and where to go,

until her sword bends
or shield rusts

…whatever it was,

she has no years left.

 

Author's Note

Is the ending ok? What do you think of it overall? Thanks.

Reviews

[Bubo]

because society's a scary place and it takes
overwhelming courage to step off the porch
and into the angry mob torch that will scorch
you every minute, melting protective coating
until there's nothing left of it.

So much here. It's as if once you started writing the thoughts splashed and spilled all over the paper........
the young growing up in a society that can be so cruel.........
the wanting to smash your kid sister, but you refrai, wanting to secretly be the hero in situations where
you feel complete loss of control.
And the poor ridiculed boy, living a daily life of hell.
I thought the title was perfect.......she was a scary myth in her self.............look her in the eye and
you turn to stone.....maybe thats what happened to society, they looked her in the eye, turned to stone and seem now to have no compassion.
Brilliant write, and very thought provoking. I love your work.

[Melanie Jane Boicourt S..]

I really like this poem but I do not think it fits the criteria for this particular contest. I wish you luck anyway and like I said, I do like it. Keep up the good works. Love All, Mejasha

[Wulfstan Crumble]

First off, hi, second, i like it when a single word or idea spills off into something greater and longer.

Medusa
lurking inside everybody;
that glee of petrifying.
Even if you don�t
consider yourself a bully, think of your
kid sister and how satisfying tormenting
in retaliation could sometimes be,
and how, occasionally, you�d attempt
to make her freeze in irritating tracks:
stop that or I�ll tell dad when he gets back.
Our planet is just one big vent
spewing out disturbing mythology.

Well, i always lost the battles with my kid sister. She would start the troubles then she would tell my dad so it was loosing all round for me on that one. lol. i like the way the medusa morphed into something about tormenting your sister.

The second segment seems a bit long as i glance over it now... a break somewhere?

Likewise, a wannabe hero resides
inside every kid, - still does, even when we grow up.

This is a very personal poem C, i think it should have been read by more people. Who cares if it doesnt meet the criteria for a contest when its this good and interesting. The poem is full of little incidents which scream of either imagination or a slither of real life.

Am glad to read your stuff again.

[Anthony Morningstar]

That's cool the dualism of man and woman. I think what's really cool is the time shifting. That's a neat concept it's like an oracle or somebody rember how things were back then. That's a cool concept I hope that I rember to play around with that idea.