You are not made of paper,
If you were, you would have
turned to ash a long time ago.

You are more. Bone and muscle,
and beginnings and endings--
evoke that when the world tries
to convince you that you are small.

You are not stone. Your heart is warm,
but seek no homes in other people's chests,
seek no truths there while your own heart
each throb, reminds you of your true home.

You are not made of paper.
Paper is easy to use and crush,
and you were not made for that.
You were made flame first.

And fire is born knowing
its elemental nature.
It knows the mystic force in shining alone.

If a woman does not fit the shape
of what you think a woman should,

if a woman is not obedient,
does not see things the way you do,

if a woman is too independent
to need anything more than herself,

does she automatically become
a threat filled with such terror to you?

Did her tresses turn into red snakes
because she dared to refuse you?

Did the dulcet voice become unbearable cries
because you couldn't stand to hear her laugh?

Did her gaze turn you to stone
because she was so completely unafraid?

Perhaps the truth about Gorgons
is they are just women,

women who do not bend to the world
or fit into the narrow mould you want them to

maybe that's why you demonised them,
turned them into monsters,

because you think monsters are easier
to understand than women who say no to you.

Great Goddesses by Nikita Gill