Queen of the Damned

does this man
with the soft hands and gentle smile
not understand the Negro form?
he frowns and his eyebrows squeeze together
as if something is missing

I sit still, because my momma told me so
but i want to see what my head will look like
in the hands of this man

then I see it.

he has turned me into Medusa
the braids my momma tried so had to make perfect
have been transformed into snakes
winding around my head
twisting together
curling around each other,
curling forward
inviting people to look into my eyes
and to become as stone as I am now
they come to a point on either side of my cheeks....
my cheeks aren't fat like that, are they momma?
like a chipmunk feeding itself

he has made my eyes vacant
staring out at nothing
or perhaps rolled back into my head
possessed by all that is not good.

I am Medusa