Summary

The title character reflects on the snakes she used to have growing out of her head, who were unexpectedly knowledgeable and well-read. But her boyfriend, Perseus, found them intrusive and threatening. He encourages her to “compromise”, and so Medusa goes to a veterinarian to get the snakes removed. She misses them in their absence, but her relationship improves — until Perseus announces that he’s leaving her to rescue another woman. Medusa feels despondent and let down, until she notices that her snakes are starting to grow back.

Analysis

“Medusa Gets a Haircut” is told in the third-person past tense, and it begins as a retrospective: “On the one hand, they had been her friends / for so long” (Lines 1-2). Already the speaker is looking backwards. At first, the reader doesn’t know who “they” is referring to, yet clues are dispersed throughout the narrative...