Gorgon Love
Vee Valiño
About the Author
Vee Valiño (they/them) was born in Havana, Cuba and grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, where they now write and work. Though their work keeps them in the closet, their writing allows them freedom that the American South would otherwise deny.
Cover by: Smithsonian Open Access Database
Gorgon Love
I wanted to hate you
for binding me in your iron will
and gilded promises.
All that shine allowed you to hide
the nature of the demands
sliding through your lips like pus from an infection
as you drank my blood
and gave me venom in return.
Now you’re gone.
I've rid myself of your poison,
and I regret it.
I've learned even poison can taste sweet
when it’s all one has to feed on.
I crave another fix of your sting.
Let me feel those fangs in my flesh as my hands wander
through the coils of snakes you have for hair.
I've become a monster myself,
so run your nails along my scales
and taste my forked tongue.
Have I not haunted you
as you have me
in wet dreams and nightmares?
I’ll call you whatever name you’d like
and assume whatever form you want
if you’d allow me the pleasure
of being treated unkindly.
Have we not always preferred a love
that felt like hate?