there is a gorgon
who once knew beauty
they say she was a monster,
I say she was betrayed; in the
hour of her need the gods
looked unkindly upon her
punished her for a man’s crime.
not much has changed
thousands of years later —
women are still blamed for the sins
of men as if by being by virtue
what and whom we are we enticed
the darkness indwelling from
their hearts to pour out
into the wellspring of life,
and it’s disgusting how readily
some swallow this deluge.
were they not born of women? are
there no mothers, sisters, cousins,
nieces, granddaughters, daughters,
lovers, or wives in their lives?
it’s evidenced in the bible as this
a man’s nature is to be evil,
but a woman who’s lost her spark of
goodness is ten times worse than
that man for her nature is to nurture and love —
then why is it men want to paint her into
a gorgon and make her into witches?
have they not enough idols to burn?
standing on the precipice in time I feel as if
we’re going backward instead of forward,
and women’s rights is a joke that isn’t catching on —
don’t stand too close you might catch my
social disease clinging to the tag of the gender
God presented me with at birth.
Linda M. Crate
Linda M. Crate is a Pennsylvanian native born in Pittsburgh yet raised in the rural town of Conneautville. Her poetry, reviews, articles and short stories have been published in a variety of magazines, both online and in print. Her chapbook 'A Mermaid Crashing Into Dawn' was recently published by Fowlpox Press.