Best Medusa Poems
This Medusa had no power to turn us into stone
but when she ran aground over Poseidon's throne
his anger stirred, and into the sea the crew was flung.
On a raft urgently built of salvaged timbers we clung.
A hundred and more escaped before the frigate sunk
and after four days adrift, our number had shrunk.
With naught but salted sea to sate our massive thirst
I vowed not to give in. I swore I'd not be the first
to yield to temptation and drink myself to death
though feverish from the intensity of the sun's breath.
On the eighth day, hunger turned men into savages,
feasting on flesh in a moment of rapacious ravages.
Bloated bodies bobbled like apples off Africa's coast.
I contemplated my fate to become what I dreaded most-
being tossed off the raft, into a shark's clamping jaws.
To survive, no one had agreed to abide by man's laws.
I'll not forget the look of fear in the eyes of others,
sailors who once proudly called themselves 'brothers.'
Each of us clutched and clawed for an inch of the raft.
The feeble ones cackled as though they'd gone daft.
Arms and legs entangled among the living and dead,
as an alabaster corpse pillowed a sun-blistered head.
The demented swam away, flailing arms in roiling waves
until they perished in the depths of their turbid graves.
Alas the day, two weeks in, a ship sighted on the horizon.
Fifteen survivors with charred skin, lean and wizened
rescued from death's grip in a morbid human experience.
Men who'd given up on hoping for a timely deliverance,
their bodies emaciated, and their clothing, threadbare,
destined to relive the catastrophe in gruesome nightmare.
August 4th 2022
2022 Marathon mile 11 Contest
Sponsor: Mark Toney
NOTE: In June 1816, the French frigate Medusa, ran aground off the coast of Senegal. Because of a shortage of lifeboats, some 150 survivors embarked on a raft and were decimated by starvation during a 13-day ordeal, which descended into murder and cannibalism. Only a handful remained when they were rescued at sea.
When gazing Beta Persei,
a star with many ghoulish names,
be wary of a winking eye
with fluctuating flames,
evincing evil aims.
Ancient mariners would watch with dread
and chant their prayers out loud,
when that “Eye in Medusa’s Severed Head”
was held by Perseus, proud,
high o’er the heathen crowd.
Sailors' hairs would stand and straighten
when that shady eye would shimmer.
The Hebrews shouted “Rosh ha Satan!”
when “The Head of Satan” grew grimmer
as "The Demon's Eye" got dimmer.
Dubbed “Ras al Ghul” in Arabic,
or “Algol” in the West,
“The Ghoul's Eye” plays a demon's trick,
resulting in unrest,
and much astro-interest:
Riding high in Autumn skies,
guiding galleon ships,
then fades before their fearful eyes,
by mean of an eclipse
of stars in an ellipse.
Then three days hence this trick repeats
with pre-ordained precision --
dark demon light again depletes
when it winks with wild derision,
which begs a bad decision.
Oh Ras al-Ghul! Oh Ras al Ghul!
So near and yet so far --
do not take me for a fool
that fears "The Demon Star,"
“The Devil’s Demon Star.”
Yet many who think it mirth, or myth,
will double down with doubts,
when that wily eye would wink forthwith
they’ll watch their whereabouts.
Better watch your whereabouts!
For those Gorgon snakes give you the shakes,
and chill you to the bone.
And one wrong look is all it takes
to turn you into stone,
eternally alone.
Submitted June 27, 2020
Medusa Or Sexy Siren, Memory Debates
I felt it was time to just let the hell go,
walking away while you screamed and cursed.
There was no fight then made just for show
an instant decision, one I never rehearsed.
Whiskey had me ready to battle, fight a war
my nerves were shot but courage filled me.
I remember that day- it is still a bad scar,
evidence of the day you forced me to hurt me!
I walked out into a steamy hot August night,
knowing that move was to be set in hard stone.
You looked in awe at that unimaginable sight,
sat there and cried like a sad child all alone!
I look back at your face from memory I saved,
there was anger, fright and hate dancing there.
My leaving was an act far too damn long delayed.
Like a Medusa, you gave me that hideous stare!
Yet at times, that face clears and is replaced.
By your beauty, dressed up and all in sexy lace!
R.J. Lindley
Jan 23rd, 1988
What have I done? She wonders…
Brittle blue gaze riveted on her lover’s chiseled features
His is a face set in stone
Eyes, mouth, jaw; all fixed, grim – a granite façade
Where has the softness gone?
That tender dawning of affection…
The loving gleam in dark chocolate eyes…
What have I done to erase it? She wonders -
Because she knows it was her doing
Knows it instinctively;
The knowledge is engrained in every fiber of her being
It was she, who else, who turned that face into rock,
It was she who wiped away the smile, the glow
Her cursed ire, her impatience, her irascible self-destructive streak –
With these tools she chipped away at him until he splintered
Yes she has broken him;
Broken the one thing she loved in all the world
Medusa-like, her willful cerulean glare turned him to stone
Now his eyes are twin pebbles
Cool, hard, unforgiving;
A grating stare is all he has to offer her
His heart sits motionless, a hunk of marble in the cage of his ribs
Beating for her no longer
His love for her has died a frigid death; drowned in a sea of ice
No more the fluid caresses, the warm grins, the ruffling of her hair
No more, no more, his love for her…
It is an unfeeling and frigid monument now
A tombstone, a dusty memory, the rattling chill of the Reaper’s breath
She has turned him into stone
Her lover - and her love - is no more
Oh Medusa, Medusa my girl, what have you done?
Hundreds of frenzied snakes
Slithering from her head
Looking at me
While her gaze wants
To turn me to stone
But I glance away
Knowing the damage
That can be caused
I met her
Dwelling in a cave
Unaware of most slang
But she endures
A painful existence.
This Medusa
A friend or fiend
You tell me
I need to know
But I will love her
Forever and a day
One half orange and one quarter lemon
Exchanging packages
Will be our right
True love
While romancing sunsets
Just remember
To avoid the gaze
When she’s beside herself
And all will be
Just fine
Poseidon hurt me,
took me against my will after I swore
my body and my mind to you, oh beloved goddess
He ravaged me like a madman,
consumed by his lust and disregard for consequences.
He screamed like a fool and left me there,
shaken in your home.
Ruined in front of my lady.
I had no place left to go-
my entire life sworn to you, grey eyed goddess,
protector of cities.
And i wept.
Wept for the atrocious crimes you had to witness,
and for my innocence, so brutally taken.
and for you, most beautiful goddess.
and as the tears hit my skin-
scales erupted.
Painful scales, making me writhe
it felt like fire consumed my entire body.
And even after the fire of my body ended,
my eyes still felt like fire,
my hair-my beautiful hair,
the locks Poseidon had grabbed in climax,
it whispered into my ears
and as I looked around all I could see was stone.
I knew at once it was you.
They whispered into my ear of curses and pain,
the snakes.
Of stone men and some hero approaching,
and look at him before he gets your head.
And at long last, when wonderful, brave, handsome Perseus came to me-
i knew you had sent him.
I warned him.
You betray those loyal to you,
the victim but not the guilty.
So he took my head and I was forced into the pages of history
As a monster
I am what you made me.
Bury me in your own eyes,
For at last we are alone.
No more does my love feed your lies;
It just turns my heart to stone
Bury me in your own heart,
For now your serpent lust can't strike.
Your glare will only cause me to part;
Call it what ever you like.
Bury me in your own skin,
For you are only a reflection.
A fallen nymph for my sin;
A god's second selection.
Medusa, my sweet gorgon love,
Your beauty was taken from above.
Amongst myths and legends shadow realm,
Dwells an ancient evil.
Beneath temples walls, and shattered ruins,
Beware mortals of what lies within the,
Burnt offerings wreckage.
In a hushed stilled silence, a figure lingers,
On the outer edges farthest fringes,
In the dark recess of humanity's night terror,
Lurks a demon a demonic priestess,
Called Medusa.
Reptilians fork tongue of darkness’s,
Grand design,
Listen not be deaf to her sweet melodies
Enchantment.
She slithers side by side as a rattle snake,
Moving in for its killing strike.
A hooded cobra lies behind emerald green eyes,
Laughing with sheer fiendish delights pleasure.
Deadliest of Lucifer's mistresses, she alone.
Waits for her next victim to enter,
This dead mans trap.
Frozen in that last tangible moment of existence,
Life depictions stone guardians, seemingly alive are
Poised in eerie poses.
Cement warriors with swords drawn and
Shields raised remain in battles stance.
A chilling realization is fears last expression,
Daring fools whom see death's reflection
Staring right back at them in the dark.
Fleshes accursed immortalized within
These statues of stone.
Fortune does not favor the foolhardy,
It punishes them by tortuous means.
A doubled edge blade placed in mortal,
Hands does not always yield a hero, or
Conqueror.
Step ever so lightly, keep all weapons,
Close at hand.
Heroic deeds deny you this adventurous tail.
For in the hollows depth no spirit escapes,
In her garden most evil,
Beware the wrath of Medusa.
BY: CHERYL ANNA DUNN
Incredibly magnificent compare to the rest,
Gericault’s “The Raft of Medusa” is truly the best!
Represents realistic men suffering at the sea,
Horribly incredible when everyone sees
Showing a tragic incident of incredible war,
Sufferings of men are seen in this exemplar
It’s a romantic depiction of reality!
It’s an enchanted art committed to humanity!
A realistic portrayal about survival
Deliciously creepy and sentimental
Looking those men chasing for the raft,
Is a romantic realism that cannot be laughed
Lei Strauss, January 10 2015
Contest Sponsor: Rick Parise
Contest Name: Ekphrasis 12 Line Max
A Greek mythological classical character chosen,
Medusa with her snake hair and stone stare, a frozen
Look turning people to stone, originally a vision of beauty,
A woman of erotic desire, who inflicted unimaginable cruelty,
Her destiny to become an unapproachable monster,
Many attempted to kill her, heroes and many a mobster,
Her punishment, all because Poseidon willfully raped her
Bringing about woe upon all women whoever they were.
The Greek God Perseus renowned for killing
Such beasts, ordered by King Polydectus whether willing
Or not, to go and bring back her head,
Perseus had a plan how to slay Medusa, delivering it dead.
This was a hero, but still sweat collected on his brow, DRIP
Drip, drip, but bravely approached her abode, a swift SNIP
Went his sharp sword which did ,SMASH
Down with might, and Medusa’s blood did SPLASH
It was rumored that from the severed head came a BELCH
As her blood in Perseus’s hands went SQUELCH.
This warrior’s deed was certainly brash, swiftly did snatch
Medusa’s head, Perseus the hero for whom there was no match.
Well worked his plan, held his shield at an angle, a space
At which he could see the reflection of her face
On his shield, but not look into her eyes, he scored an ace,
The horrifying snakes in her hair died, her eyes ablaze
A statue of Medusa’s head shown as averting assailant’s gaze.
Contest Entry: Onomatopoeia Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Emile Pinet
Date: 01/11/2021
Serpants hissing round the dime
Constricted notions and assumptions
Come like Perseus
Cut the head off the beast
You have become a sort of curiosity
Your eyes wander up and I watch you
Gravitate toward me
Like a forbidden, foreign thing
I can’t speak
For fumbling for foothold
I am upturned and reeling
My mouth hurts from shyly grinning
Why are you so beautifully strange?
Your hands perched on the desk beside
I lean into you as you speak,
My thoughts throbbing and body weak
Why are you so uniquely intricate?
With depths longing to be
Unfettered, eyed naked
Conquered
Somehow I fell for you with hardly any words;
I drifted into a sleep vivid and new
I was drawn like weathered moths
A moon-stricken tide—
The mournfully lost
You are an anomaly
I stand, pupils stagnantly wide
And take you in like a dream in the night.
Temple temptress, how I long for your lips,
your milky white skin and sweet-scented hair.
But alas, Athena has cursed you,
for Poseidon's rape and sordid affair.
Don't push me away, Medusa, my love,
you're mortal, unlike your Gorgon sisters.
And though inside you're filled with guilt and shame,
when you flash your scales, your green skin glisters.
If I but glimpse your face, I'll turn to stone,
but I see you through the lens of my heart.
And though slithering serpents crown your head,
it is not enough to force us to part.
Just say the word, and I'll kill Perseus,
like the Gods, he's cruel and merciless.
(Sonnet)
3/25/2018
Wicked is, wicked does
Wicked do evil
Evil don’t know love
Stony dead eyes,
with living hair of snakes
Medusa seduction ...
femme fatale embrace
Don’t look in the mirror,
she might be wearing your face
Vanity mask a gender bender disguise:
You can reign inside of her,
if you’re willing to be force fed
daily all of her vulnerable victim sad cries
You can dominate over him,
if you just submit to being bound
in the needy chains of his emasculated pride
The face of Medusa
ain’t gon set your gargoyle spirit free
In your frozen power pose,
you’re gonna grieve ... seeing the rare butterflies floating free
Those who were cocooned from the deadly gaze
that brought your doom,
in which you are now entombed
The beautiful winged ones burst free from saving captivity,
by looking within at their own sins
Now they’re flying free ... heavenly bound to glory,
and the face that they’ll see
will be the revealed Omnipotent express image of Love
That is as it should be
Children of eternity hate the mirrored reflection of Medusa
Writhing deadly, the face of the stony seductress be ...
tempting you to cast aside all morality
The chimera face of Medusa —
this is the cold reflection you coveted to see,
it’s the coldness you desired to breathe
The stone-cold evil you aspired to be
The hydra eyes of Medusa —
this is the terrifying image you wanted others to see,
it’s their fear you love to taste when they can’t breathe
The cult worship you inspired
to feed your Medusan vanity ... looks that kill, lustily
Getting snake bitten is your devil’s reward,
your fallen cherubic destiny
Medusa
she open her heart wide to the vast illusion called life
in a variation of a dream she will scream
the twilight sun has tainted her inner vision,
hands, face & lips...
A sought after excursion of her heartfelt memory of her past,
Alone she thinks of the quaint memories to long ago,
shelter lies dormant amidst its beckoning plow;
She dances in a ring of fire yet
throws off its challenge with a shrug
her powers are from Zues of long ago,
making a premonition of fortune telling...
She comes from a kingdom near the sea
A glance of kings & queens and trolls in the meager existence
Empties her ideals in a shard of glass,
Dragons lurks around her heavenly abode
a flame of passion in a sincere covet
eyes, lips & hands,
She looks at life through the lens of death
her salvation is a longing quest of self discovery
as she approaches her own heaven's door