Grit and Love
Your black curly
hair
was too dark
Your curls
defiant
wiry springs
that
recoiled in the
fog
full, standing
taller
than your
confidence
small face
eyes like
focused arrows
shaded under
spirited locks
It was enough
trouble
already
this shrub-like
ebony halo
Not light, not
straight
not preferred
Then year by
year
white lines
appeared
multiplied
turning this
crown silver
In the mirror
In photos
blanched in sunglow
curls obscured
unstoppable loss
of blackness
Is it okay for a
woman
to sport a
silver cloud?
Are you fading
into oblivion?
Where is the
comfort in being alive?
Can you be saved
by pigments?
Do you join the
club?
Bond with women
who color?
Will it improve?
Will it heighten
the quality?
Are you serious?
Do they think
so?
This new color
in your hair?
This flattening
of curls
This culture
delivers
whatever you
want
In a salon named
Harlot
in Venice Beach
You name it
Sure you’re at
their mercy
Sure you haven’t
a clue
What do you
want?
You pay with
time
You pay with
surrender
You pay big
bucks
For needle
straight hair
Glowing red
brown
A sister of
Raggedy Ann
Yet you are no
doll
Your hair grows
determined as
bamboo
Defying the
promises of restored youth
truly an uphill
climb
When once the
black reigned sovereign
Now the
glistening silver obstinate
as any weed
Reminds you life
is maintenance
Beauty is a
burden
And women whose
roots don’t show
are either more
fortunate than you
Or they bow to a
different
goddess
Linda Saccoccio is a visual artist and writer with a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA from the School of Visual Arts in NYC. She lives and works in CA, exhibiting painting in art fairs. Her inaugural book of paintings and poems is "Transitions and Translations", it is available at:
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