Love is a dangerous serpent,

if you learn how to knot it

how to twist it back on itself

until it resembles nothing

of love at all,

then you can weave a noose

from the stands

cut from your own heart

and choke the life

out of those

who refused to take it

when love was first offered.

And now for our (optional) prompt. In her interview, Brim provides us with several suggestions for generative writing exercises, and we’d like to challenge to today to tackle her third one, which is based in the myth of Narcissus. After reading the myth, try writing a poem that plays with the myth in some way. 

There is something in this myth that has rubbed me the wrong way today. I think it’s the parallel between Narcissus being cursed for not returning another’s love, and the current climate where women are sometimes thrown into toxic situations where rejecting an advance is seen as an insult that should be punished.