“You would look better with your hair straight.”
“Have you ever tried weave? A Perm? You should try a relaxer.”
“Is that all yours? You must be mixed with something.”
It starts at the roots:
the roots are beyond sturdy.
The base of each follicle delves
into the scalp, intently, how tree root
stretches underground to its water source.
From this foundation, each strand coils
tightly like compressed copper wire,
upward-outward spiraling, they reach out –
a mass of textured, chaotic limbs.
It can neither be created nor destroyed,
and as gravity holds no dominion over it,
uproars of black fibers grasp at the heavens.
Structured.
“You don’t have that good grade of hair.”
“It’s nappy, shouldn’t you do something with it?”
“It’s too difficult to care for, unmanageable.”
The middle is coarse:
clustering into a black sphere
the size of a dense galactic orb.
Fingers lose themselves amid the twists,
turns, kinks and kanks of its intricate space.
The teeth of the comb attempt to separate
but each strand locks arms with the one next to it –
united in protest, a movement
of dense proportions.
Growing weary in the thickness of its valley,
the comb bends, then breaks –
the hair still stands, firm,
in solidarity.
Resilient.
“It’s unprofessional to wear your hair like that.”
“You look like you stuck your finger in an electrical socket.”
The ends are historic:
wild as a spreading slave revolt,
overwhelming, overpowering.
Fields
of stolen people toil -
the sun sweltering
their free-labor hands
(pik and pick)
and middle-passage feet,
open wounds from the whip stinging
in the vile plantation breeze.
Organic, raw cotton picked
By the ancestors, passed down
placed atop our heads, this soft and fluffy
inheritance contrasts the industrial power
that separated us from our indigenous lives.
It ends where it began,
Rooted.
Textured and tethered to the Cosmos,
I allow my Afro to run its astronomical
coarse, what a force –
enthrallment, rebellion, liberation,
precious stolen craniums from
beautiful, sunbathed, melanin-rich,
pillaged, colonized, divided African nations –
fight and flight shape such an impervious,
untamed crown
underneath it, all of the
negative voices
drown
About the Creator
AfroVerse
Poet and Product of the Most High.
Instagram: Afroverse_97
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Comments (26)
Woaw Congratulations on the top story and Winning Your poem, writing and the way You expressed it its just mesmerizing! Wonderful poetry, and you are a beautiful poet !
liked your poet loved to read more.
Yeah to the DO. The AfroDo. Congrts to you and hair.
Goodness gracious. This is a poetic journey to say the least. Poetry was born from protest, and your piece mimics a cultural (and racial) revolution. Brava!
First off, big congratulations on your challenge win with this story. Second off, I absolutely love the concept of hair used for the challenge. What an amazing and unique poem that details and says so much more than simply about the challenges presented with hair. Having absolutely flat and lifeless hair, I love when someone embraces their curls. Well done on more than one facet!
Congratulations on your well deserved win. This was so powerful. I loved the metaphor of honoring your historical roots through embracing your beautiful natural hair. This line was my favorite: "wild as a spreading slave revolt"
Wow! 🤩 so powerful. Congratulations! Love, Love, Love ❤️❤️❤️
This is amazing work and an inspired treatment of the 'brief'. Love it. Congratulations!
This was beautiful and highly emotional. My daughter wears her astronomical afro, too, but she struggled for many years, dealing with so many terribly hurtful comments. Thank you so much for writing this. I must share with my daughter, Blessed (yes, her name). Congratulations on your win and top story❣🌹
Absolutely overjoyed with this and you! A thousand thanks for writing the hair history of so many of us! YAYS for your win, but even more for your expressive talent. The Ancestors are so pleased!
What a powerful poem- embracing your hair right down to the roots is a great way to understand a complex social dilemma. Congratulations on a well-deserved top story win.
Great poem. Congratulations ! I have never understood why hair is so persecuted, even to the extent of banning children’s books about it.
The way you turned hair into history and resistance is unforgettable. Thank you for writing this.
Wow! This is incredible. Congratulations!!
There are no words to capture how brilliant and powerful this is - Incredible, incredible work. Such a deserving win!!
HERE it IS: I allow my Afro to run its astronomical coarse, what a force – enthrallment, rebellion, liberation, precious stolen craniums from beautiful, sunbathed, melanin-rich, pillaged, colonized, divided African nations – fight and flight shape such an impervious untamed crown I loved that. People are so ignorant in making comments, aren't they? This is brilliant, and a well-deserved win. Congratulations.
Wooohooooo congratulations on your win! 🎉💖🎊🎉💖🎊
Glad to see they also made it a top story. I hope a lot of people comment and you get on the next leaderboard.
Congrats! Id have beeen mad if this didnt place! so glad you got a win!
Strength 🥰😍Congratulations 🎊 🤎💯
Absolutely screen-shattering. This is so powerfully stated, well layered with meaning, and emotionally touching. Congrats on such a well deserved win 👏👏👏🌟
Love this! I even love the word play in the title. I was literally just looking at a hair texture chart trying to figure out what texture my kids hair falls under. So this is timely! Also I’m not especially religious but I seem to remember a verse in the Bible about Jesus having “hair like wool”, which to me sounds like 3c or 4a. And I got to thinking how hypocritical it would be for any christian to be a white supremacist, considering the historical guy was decidedly not a white man. Then I got to think ridiculous it is that people with rich curls and kinks or puffy hair are pressured into denying their natural beauty. so this is timely. Your poem is expertly written, and I think very inspiring. I really appreciate how you take ridiculous statements about false professionalism and Eurocentric beauty standards but then strongly and soundly reject them! I know those social pressures can be so damaging, so it’s especially satisfying to see those same pressures portrayed as silly and weak and not valid. Glad to see this land the win, well deserved! I’m gonna subscribe to see what else you share in the future :)
A unique take on the challenge, well done! Congratulations on your win!
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!! 🍾 🥂 I am over the moon that this piece didn’t get overlooked. Well-deserved, looking forward to reading more of your work.
First things first I've always loved seeing afros. I know deep down that doesn't matter really but wanted to say that. Also I'm glad Harper directed me to your sublime poem. This is brilliant on do nant levels. I love how defiant it is even if it's a defiance that should not have up exist. I love the pride emanating from every line. I love how committed you were to the metaphor and how you completely took it apart and reduced it to its roots. It was just a delight to read and coupled with the beautiful photo, it was a powerful assertion about pride in your identity and dull.thdy it stands for and hoe it's intrinsically tied to your toots. The title was the icing and I assume this was entered into the roots and branches challenge. I can't imagine this not placing as a winner. I've subscribed and look forward to reading more but well done on this piece. Hope my comment made sense. I was quite emotional writing it.