The Transition
She’s not letting herself
go, she’s reclaiming
the crown of bright white
streaked with gunmetal
gray she once hid (poorly)
like genetic shame,
the way they taught her.
In this, her Great Untaming,
she is watching the dark
dye slip down the sides
of her part over time
like tacky art, and smiling.
She is wearing her freed
silver strands as she wears
her smile—recklessly,
and without one fuck
for all the boring
beauty standards.
14 thoughts on "The Transition"
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The defiant and empowering tone in this poem is incredible! Bravo!
Thank you for reading! I like how we can use tone in a poem to become anyone or anything.
Yes!! I love everything about this poem, particularly the rhythm and rhyme in the lines “slip down the sides of her part over time like tacky art.”
Thank you, Katrina! I love poetry that moves like music, so I’m glad you enjoyed the rhythm and rhyme! It’s also always helpful to hear which lines are meaningful to folks 🙂
Yes! Echo above comments. Perhaps a blossoming rather than a transition?
Ah, I like that concept of blossoming, Mary! Thank you!
Hi Jasmine! I love this poem! Well done!
Thanks so much! I need to catch up and do a lot of reading on here, but so glad you are doing lexpomo!
I echo Mary’s Echo!
Thank you, Joseph!
Happy transitioning! It sounds like you already have gained strength from the decision. Great humor and acceptance.
Thank you! Funny what comes up sometimes when you sit down to write. Didn’t expect it to be about my hair. But the poem made me realize that the hair transition is about a transition in how I choose to show up in the world. And there is something delicious in that.
The unveiling of a tiara, I would say. Wear it proud, Queen. You have earned it.
Thank you, Wendy! I wish it didn’t take so long to learn how to be true to ourselves. Or maybe that’s just me. But really I think the poem is about making the hair transition a larger transition of coming home to myself. Thank you for the encouragement!