Nappy Hair
Doesn’t matter how rich
or poor she is,
‘creamy crack’ is the antidote
to her nappy hair.
Can she go back? It’s difficult.
For if her hair is knotty
she ain’t happy –
so groomed
by sodium hydroxide
white people relax around her.
The burn of a perm
though excruciatingly hot,
her fiery scalp is worth it
as later she gently caresses roots
with ecstatic fingers.
In addition there’s an erroneous
friend in town,
from wig –
to an extension of reality –
100% protein filament
stitched/glued onto cornrow tracks –
weaveologists charge big money.
It can be combed, curled
and it will not melt.
It’s also been prayed on in Temples.
Tonsure, the cutting of hair
in religious devotion and humility?
The Indian woman’s stolen
in the dead at night –
a rite of passage
to sit upon this black lady’s head
thousands of miles away:
seemingly Godly but
now paraded in high esteem
though evidently not original.
Back to Myth, History & Cultural Memory
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Claudette Colvin: The First to Refuse
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