I have learned not to pray over the body of a boy since I am all skin to him anyway. And since he chooses to demand like a child and if  I must become the playground then I choose to be a jungle gym. If he must place a curse upon my body, then I will make the most of it. Welcome to the wasteland kid, watch as not to trip on the underbrush. Don’t forget to look up, I promise I’m right behind you, I’ve got your back. I am swimming amongst the branches, seeping into your ether and yes, that’s some serpent shit, curse of the Midwest Witch. Doing what I do best and putting all the boys to rest and when I come for you, call it what it is: payback, victory, a gift is what this is and Mother Medusa would be proud, you made a daughter out of me. Mother, look at what I have done, look at the garden I have created out of his stone cold, look at the art I have made from him and his curse. Mother, I have tried to wrap my head around myself and I come back confused every time, but I have realized it does not matter because I am all Gorgon now. I carry a lineage of fierce, terrible, and grim and I hope I live up to the legend. I hope I become a myth too so when another girl finds herself with a curse, I can show her how to mold it into a gift and I will tell her, “you are all serpent now. We are all serpent now. Me and you and all the others and we will make mountains out of the men and rest upon their bones the same way they have tried to rest up on us and they will never see us coming because they don’t believe we exist