Great Clips

I wore a hat as soon as I got out of the shower
To keep my hair down.
Because I hated how it poofs and curls
I hated how it fros
And I wished it was straighter like my brother’s.

I wished they wouldn’t ask me
”Are you sure?”
When I told them to cut it.
I wanted it gone. I wanted some semblance of normalcy.
Short. Tame.
Still under a hat.

I never used product.
Hair shouldn’t be work
When a hat will do.
But this is why I hated Summer,
Water logged gutters
Curling at tips,
Thickly dripping down my back.
The humidity revealed my secret.
My curls couldn’t be contained.

So when you told me I had nice hair,
Thick and lucious,
I didn’t know what to say.
I tried to hide it.
I tried to cut it.
To bury it, to deny it.

Yet you loved it.
Because it was natural.

Now, when you take it by the fistful,
When you pull strands off my shoulder,
When you breathe it in right before sighing and smiling every morning,
I can’t help but want to grow it out.

I want it to grow and last long.
To be sturdy.
I want the world to see, no matter how curly or outrageous it gets.

Because it’s natural. Because it’s me.

Because you’re you.