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Call me Pygmalion/Medusa is my deadname

Briana Zelkova

Call me PygmalionMedusa is my deadname  Briana Zelkova

do you ever pay too close attention

to the laces snaking across the top of your foot,

fallen locks from Medusa,

the way you tie them in knots

giving away your secret hand preference

 

i watched you hold the snakes with ease

criss-crossing them into loops

the same way for each foot everytime

carefully pulling out the slack

to prevent an unraveling escape

 

i hope they stay in their perfect stiff bows

heel pressed into toe, no unlacing

until it's time to go outside once more

functional trophies

like deer heads mounted on walls

my charmer of snakes,

my aspiring gorgon-slayer,

all gray in the single light shining from above him

while my locks hissed and wept

to see their brethren on his feet

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