If My Hair Could Talk


United States
30° 25' 51.4884" N, 84° 15' 53.1072" W

but you can't run your hands through my hair with your fingers
I've got kinks that run down from my crown to my soul
and yo' momma said if I can't use your comb don't bring me home
and my momma said tell that lady she's just mad she ain't got her own
but momma can't make me no babies and my clock is tickin'
so I went ahead, relaxed my hair in yo' momma's kitchen

If my hair could talk, she would say:
How dare you say you’ve struggled do you know that I’ve been through more in history than any book can tell you
I was royalty’s only ticket into longevity
the only way crowns placed upon heads interlocked with each other the only reason Delilah betrayed Sampson was because I provided the strength
the only reason you knew that you and Jesus Christ shared similarities
do you know, what I’ve been through?
I have been through decades and centuries of misconceptions and misunderstandings about how I lived my lifestyle
Straight or kinky
grown personal bonds with people just to get cut off after they couldn’t handle the attachment
got knotted up in Nubia entangled in twisted up natures locked up with my sistas
then my locks grew bigger and they had the nerve to commercialize my struggle call it Rastafarian connections
pick out my flaws and wear them big on their heads calling a revolution
how dare you say you know my struggle but you have no idea what I’ve been through?
they burned me to straighten me out
threw water on me so I could shrivel up
treated me with hot oils so I would calm down
clip my ends when I was already broke
and when placed under the heat, they cover your ears in fear of you being scarred with the truth
that you’ve damaged me unproperly managed me
cut off your own that I gave you to buy someone elses
but the grass aint greener on the other side,
you’re still the same person whether Im dead or dyed neither here nor there
“lyed” to me so I could relax when the white started to burn me
turned my land into crop circles in order to lay down tracks
raze me up when I’m down but get mad when I become in grown
made you look unprofessional if I didnt flow down your back
but if I’m not tamed you won’t even hire your own…
would you sell the diamonds in your uterus if it came with left-ring finger benefits? no.
then why would sell your roots out for them?
do you know what I’ve been through?
I’ve kept you warm on many a cold nights,
I’ve captured tears for you, braided up your fears for you
but its funny how nobody cared to ask me how I felt but it’s cool, cuz I still come back stronger, every time, you cut me down,
And as Garvey says "do not remove the kinks out of your hair, remove the kinks out of your brain"
But just remember, if it wasn’t for me,
no one would notice your crown in the first place.



I like this poem


Great poem. I love the way you use your hair as if it's a real person to tell a story.

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