Mommy Medusa by Jane Rosenberg LaForge

After Scott Hightower

There were no snakes

in her hair,

only voices,

a wreath of harpies

and reptiles, the kind

that make a life

in the suburbs;

in her daughter’s

classroom, Lucky 13,

besides the rabbits

and terrariums, a lesson

on nurturing.

They all have a similar

lineage: animals. It’s

been proven in the textbooks.

Unlike a jury of supposed

peers, because they couldn’t

have been equals. My mother

had been to college; she knew

what damage a whispering

chorus could do.

Yet they chipped away,

too close to the soul

in the statue, submerged

under artful compromises

so the thing would stand

with its flat feet

and junk immune system,

and what was left over,

grains and slivers,

like dandruff that made

a crown of thorns

on her pillow:

I borrow this image

knowingly, because

it is appropriate.

Mommy Martyr,

she always called herself.

As long as she doesn’t see   

the pattern on the pillowcases,

she will outlive

all of us.

Jane Rosenberg LaForge has published four poetry chapbooks and two full-length collections. "Medusa's Daughter," her third collection, is forthcoming from Animal Heart Press in 2021. Her novel, "The Hawkman: A Fairy Tale of the Great War" (Amberjack Publishing), was a finalist in the Eric Hoffer Awards. Her next novel,  "Sisterhood of the Infamous," is forthcoming from New Meridian Arts Literary Press in 2020.