Once you said
estoy jugando con tu pelo
while playing with my hair.
Your hair is thick and black and shiny and reflects the light
and provides a heavy weight for keeping you against the ground.
My hair is thin and dull and coarse
and I have no tolerance for the styling of hair.
The memory of your head is heavy now, for me, and I often think of touching you.
I often think of things I cannot have.
I cannot have you nor hair like yours,
Or else I may tolerate an occasional comb
Or arrangement
Or affair.
If I could negotiate my way backward through time
I might go and press my head against you.
I might rest my head of coarse thin hair against your hand
And ask you to play.
3 comments:
I decided to move Ezra back to the top because I'm thinking about him, (since he's reading my work,) and because I love this memory. For those of you who have read Janet Frame... I admit that this piece is my feeble attempt to pretty much copy her style. For those of you that haven't... This is totally my personal style.
so i looked up some JF after reading this. ^_^ She is really, really interesting. ok, so much so that I sat my 'puter on the armrest and performed her in my living room. I see what you mean about the style in this piece. I like this gliding between complete sentences to fragments that echo each thought. It makes for great out-loud reading. What other pieces have you done that emulate her work?
Can you officially call this "poetry"? It sounds like the way you speak. Probably not fair that I know you already. ;) In any case, I love your work. Both written and spoken.
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