Summer 2020 Archive
Poetry
Beauty Shop Rock
by Tsebiyah Mishael Derry
on the west side highway
at midnight
on a thursday
suddenly I smelt
a familiar smell
of silky smooth
chemical dominance
and teleported.
the fuming
thick white cream
sweet on vision and
vicious
in its practice
swift with its fine-toothed partner
commanding the kinks
to straighten out
and stand down.
In the shop
the comforting clatter
of robust rolling R's and
thick Ts and fat As slide out
from the mouths above me. laughter
fills the air and
blow dryers scream their sleepy howls
beneath me the seat sticks to my
thighs and hair wisps its strands
in front of my eyes.
I hold my head against the pull
of an intimidating
spherical
brush.
outside
the world whizzes by and the street stays the same as it changes
the evening drops
a lady mops
I look in the mirror and stare
at my unlucky
shiny
straightened hair.
years
later,
on the west side highway
at midnight
on thursday
I was grateful for the strength
I had
to cut
it all
off.
by Tsebiyah Mishael Derry
on the west side highway
at midnight
on a thursday
suddenly I smelt
a familiar smell
of silky smooth
chemical dominance
and teleported.
the fuming
thick white cream
sweet on vision and
vicious
in its practice
swift with its fine-toothed partner
commanding the kinks
to straighten out
and stand down.
In the shop
the comforting clatter
of robust rolling R's and
thick Ts and fat As slide out
from the mouths above me. laughter
fills the air and
blow dryers scream their sleepy howls
beneath me the seat sticks to my
thighs and hair wisps its strands
in front of my eyes.
I hold my head against the pull
of an intimidating
spherical
brush.
outside
the world whizzes by and the street stays the same as it changes
the evening drops
a lady mops
I look in the mirror and stare
at my unlucky
shiny
straightened hair.
years
later,
on the west side highway
at midnight
on thursday
I was grateful for the strength
I had
to cut
it all
off.
