Call me Pygmalion/Medusa 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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