for Medusa

Ivan was a poet who wrote for the state;
he was paid to turn his work in
to be burned upon completion; hence he
seldom finished anything
but sending blank pages to be burned
instead got him labeled as radical
                             avant-garde,
increasing his popularity & interest
in his work
& earning him                            a raise;
Igor was a novelist who worked at the next desk;
they became friends when Igor hit on Ivan
in the men's room
& Ivan rather than be offended
offered Igor some coke; they
soon discovered that grew very up
near each other & that their
mothers had had an elicit lesbian affair
while keeping up the facade of being ordinary              
                                                      housewives­;
Igor was a novelist paid to write;    
who never wrote,          but was always bragging
about his latest masterpiece in     public;
he wrote in secret, but no one could        
                               know
or                                            he'  d lose his job