Chapter 12

Chapter 12205 wordsCompleted

The speaker, Medusa, opens with a vivid portrayal of growing suspicion and jealousy toward her beloved “perfect man, Greek God.” She describes the transformation of her thoughts into literal snakes that erupt from her scalp, turning her hair into filthy serpents. Her breath becomes sour, her mouth “foul‑mouthed,” and her eyes fill with “bullet tears,” emphasizing her deteriorating mental state. She threatens that the god will betray her and wishes him to become stone.

She then catalogues a series of violent, surreal observations: a buzzing bee causes a grey pebble to drop; a singing bird drops dusty gravel; a ginger cat’s presence shatters a bowl of milk with a housebrick; a snuffling pig triggers a boulder rolling amid filth. Each image underscores her power to turn the ordinary into stone or ruin.

Staring into a mirror, Medusa sees herself as a Gorgon and then as a dragon, with fire spewing from a mountain’s mouth, symbolizing her monstrous self‑image. She confronts the arrival of a heroic figure armed with “a shield for a heart and a sword for a tongue” accompanied by “your girls, your girls.” She recalls her former beauty and fragrance, then starkly declares her current state: “Look at me now.” The monologue ends without resolution, leaving Medusa’s rage and transformed identity hanging in the air.