they say
I ran to Artemis when men with
stone faces and hard hearts
came chasing after me
to take things I had not offered
her advice to me was simple
stop running woman-child
turn your face to them
they say you make them hard
make it true
make them harder
make their blood turn stone with your righteous fury
so I did
stories spread
gossip’s nothing new
suddenly I was a monster with snakes for hair
like they’d never seen dreadlocks before
like I couldn’t be dangerous without
venomous creatures crawling from my skin
but hey
it kept people away most of the time
kept me safe from their wandering eyes
I didn’t do anything to anyone innocent
men who came to me
they knew what they were coming for
they came to take
came to take my life
came to take my body
came to take my power
I didn’t let them
I have a garden full of statues
in honor of their ignorance
Medusa [poem]
Larissa Lee 