Lethal by Stan Sanvel Rubin

Maybe forever Medusa’s quick look
from under her cowgirl cut
catches you at the party
while she turns instantly away
to the other conversation
with someone you can’t see
but only want to see through
despite her careful wisdom
hiding the lethal snakes 
that follow you
past windows filling with something
remarkable and unclear, something
better than this.

Stan Sanvel Rubin’s poems have appeared in US magazines such as Agni, Georgia Review, Poetry Northwest and others as well as in China, Canada, Belgium, and Ireland. Four full-length collections include There. Here. (Lost Horse Press) and Hidden Sequel (Barrow Street Poetry Book Prize). Born in Philadelphia, he has lived on the north Olympic Peninsula of Washington for more than twenty years.