eyes like medusa

let me have
eyes like
medusa,

too many men are
harming women;

let me turn them
to stone so they can
match their heartless
insides—

they’ve given up their
souls long ago

for every evil in this world,

so allow me to return them to the
very clay from where they were
made and then shatter them to the
pieces they broke souls into;

and maybe in the afterlife
they can suffer as they’ve made
others suffer.


Linda M. Crate (she/her) is a Pennsylvanian writer whose poetry, short stories, articles, and reviews have been published in a myriad of magazines both online and in print. She has twelve published chapbooks, the latest being: Searching Stained Glass Windows For An Answer (Alien Buddha Publishing, December 2022). Linda has four full length poetry collections and a photography collection book. Linda is also the author of the novellas Mates (Alien Buddha Publishing, March 2022), Managing Magic (Alien Buddha Press, September 2022), and The Queen’s Son (Alien Buddha Publishing, December 2023). Her first short story collection King Quinlin (Alien Buddha Publishing, March 2024) was published this spring. Her debut haiku collection in these ancient veins was published in spring of 2024 (Alien Buddha Publishing, May 2024). Her hybrid poetry and photography collection mantle lake recently came out in February 2025 (Alien Buddha Publishing, February 2025). 


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