ode to my freshly-braided cornrows
As my head perches between melaninated legs
I am the closet I have ever been to the motherland
The comb plows into my scalp
Marking its territory
Like a wild species
But its plastic bites aren’t foreign to me
Rhythmic penetration of follicles
Push pull
Pull pull
Push
To uncoiled eyes
This ritual of tug-of-war
Screams barbaric chants of defiance
The unwed cousin of human sacrifice
You are the transcendent mediator for agony and anguish.
Plaiting together loose strands of matrilineages
The fingertips of my mother’s
Mother’s
Auntie
Have mastered your holy conundrum
It goes…
Left, right
Left
right
L-
My lips have already spilt the last drop of cherry Kool-aide on the kitchen floor
You are the ultimate shapeshifter.
Transforming a hand-me down wool sweater into a lustrous headdress
You come in more languages than the sun
French
Dutch
Even African
A language presumed to be lost at sea
You are an exclusive form of transportation.
Harriett’s train is no match for your four-hundred seater subway
Making stops at every kitchen back door
The only rules of the road
Never. Touch. The. Conductor.
They
See you
I
Hear you
Your presence echoes within fragmented mirrors
Your defiant acts of gravity do not go unnoticed
Your need for applause remains at the top of my to-do list
I scratch your scalp
And you un-condition mine
You un-condition minds
Distinguished Voices Poetry Contest Finalist
Selected by Chen Chen
“Hair becomes a way to explore land, history, race, language, matrilineal hands and ways. Beautifully and urgently written.” – Chen Chen
Alice Luo is an English major and Africana Studies minor attending SUNY Cortland. Her love for spoken word and writing has driven her to perform on stages all across New York. Going by her stage name, Sista Spice, Luo is anticipating the publication of her first poetry book to be released April 2019.