Medusa
Michelle Kasparian (University of Wollongong, Australia)
we have waited
on muddied rock
my sisters and I
I now know
there lies a difference
between want and hope
dream and desire
we are only few
of the ruined maidens
ones the gods
have retched, have tasted
and found lacking
my sisters and I
we linger here
their blind hands
searching, tearing
at mollusced rock
digging further
into the ocean
as if to burrow our sorrow
offer some solace
a kind of purpose
so our tears
might meld with the sea
with my good eye
I have known all
histories and futures
I have seen Odysseus’ boat
Medea’s island
and long ago, Helen’s fleet
we all share the same sky, cousin
you and I
the counter-points
of one of Fate’s
spindling threads
when I look down
when I choose to see
this face, this longing
writhing in the waves
I feel, no— I know
that we are of the same ilk
a refraction of some divine light
all of us
destroyed and created
used and abandoned
by gods and their sons
and if your face
launched that fleet
mine I know
will also prove great
and here I wait
on desolate rock
among my sisters
for the time of Perseus
for the time
when all things
are vindicated
and Atlas
so high up
will ease in rest
Michelle Kasparian is a Sydney-sider whose time as a professional student will soon come to an end. She has an Honours degree in creative writing from the University of Wollongong. Michelle’s poetry has been published in Theory of Everything magazine. When not writing, she is often practising tarot reading and palmistry.
