I am my hair
You may have heard Arie
Tell another story but
Yes dear, I am my hair
I am the color of the richest soil
My hair be the leaves
To match my roots
And I don't just grow
I bloom
Able to match the energy of any room
You don't need telekinesis
To tell what type of day it is
Just look at the tresses
And tread lightly
They say your hair is your scalp's protection
But
I learned
There is an emotional psychological
Connection
A sign of struggle or bliss
A symbol of liberation or subjugation
Shea & jojoba can heal my strands
But inside of me needs recalibration
My hair has been subject to everyone's correction
Taught that hair straightened
Pairs perfectly with job applications
That hair can nullify resumes
My mother told me
I needed to tame my texture
That a hot comb would fix my shame
Called my fluff unruly
That no man would take me home
With just a wash and go
That sisters who reject the monochrome
Who refuse to exist black and white
Never get a chance at the spotlight
But no
I am my hair
See these hands fight
Like my strands
Coiled into small fists
That no one would dare wrestle with
I refuse to be limited to guardrails
I do not fit into ponytails
Narrow spaces or trends
And if I do
It's only my permission
I am my hair
And this hair breaks combs
The way I break glass ceilings
My hair wrangles rooms
Isn't scared to stand up
In places folk didn't invite it to
I am my hair
Rough around the edges
I don't lay down
For any old body
I am my hair
And on some days
We don't agree
But this battle really isn't with my hair
It's within me
Learning to accept who it is
In a world where only one type of curl
Gets placed on marquees
My hair is me
And I am all of this
I am not stagnant
I am not a monolith
I am legacy
Greatness
I am the child of Africans
Who survived the Middle Passage
I have the breath of the
Almighty within me
I am divinity
I am Eve
I am the most beautiful creation
Surrounded by perfection
I got loyalty got royalty inside my DNA
Can you see my crown
How you tell a queen how to behave
Refuse to live by standards of beauty that our society says
Letting my edges get swept into politics
Goes against its DNA
I am my hair
A descendant of the
Nandi and Makeda
Not just the
Sugarcane sharecroppers
But Queen of Sheba
Scholars in Timbuktu
I am my hair
I am the heir
Of a kingdom where
My beauty is all my own
And this is the year
Where I and my hair
Reclaim our rightful throne