Medusa

i live in the sallow shadow

of anger

its rise of tendrils

a charged medusa head

a Tesla tree

a glare of midday sun on water

that tries to still itself

feel its voltage from 16,000 light years

away, I cower under

the lick of a snake stroke

salt anode to the tongue

the shock eclipse of all that appeared good

yesterday

it undermines the core

of memory

it steals days from me

turns them all to stone

while I rattle in its wake, the lightning

quick to my nerves, dna deep

bypasses feeling

arcs straight and true to instinct:

run, take wing, look back not

directly but only

in the shield’s reflection