“A Poem About Hair,” by Tene’sha Crews

By Tene’sha Crews • 

Had Her Hate for Her Hair been cultivated or passed down?

Passed through words like “nappy” and “needing of a perm

Ignoring the monthly visits of that scalp stinging burn

Like first it was grandmother, then mother, now it’s your turn

To gradually detest your natural strands is what you’ll learn

“It’s time for a relaxer”, a word meaning to tame

Sticking up in every which way, wild like a lion’s mane

Or the muffled cries of a child, shielding mother from shame

Her hair had lost its identity, maybe it had a name?

But we’ll never tell because straightened white–I mean, right
It looks the same.

As same as the women from black & white television screens

To today’s colored commercials promising straight with sheen

The Hate of Hair often follow from childhood to teens

Until blind lies covered in chemicals and lye are seen

Only then do they see that their hair naturally crowns them as queens

Tene’sha Crews uses activism, poetry and art to encourage people to make a difference in the issues that affect varying communities.