Why does she always feel pretty with straight hair?
The sound of the iron in the morning,
right before school
It cracks and sizzles
as she runs through her curls.
The big,
bold,
bouncy curls
that once meant something to her
The strands that she was not ashamed of
The coils that bounce back,
now gone
She always felt the need
to straighten her hair
Everyone told her to ‘brush’ it
Everyone complimented her
When her hair was wet
When it was ‘tamed’
No one ever complimented her big natural curls
And so,
Every morning,
she sits atop her vanity
With the iron set at 450 degrees,
damaging the natural hair
Combing through her straight locks
As she notices her baby coils in the front.
