girl how long you been going natural?
most folks with naturals look like they just don’t care
that natural look ain’t for everyone
i would go natural, but i got that african hair
I.
the verb ‘to go’
means to journey from one place to another
the slow and steady of travel and pace
the swapping of one hair texture for the next
like a 21st century transatlantic trade
II.
to enslave an entire people
you better come with more than a whip and chain
your power is not in a lash to the back
but in anything you can strip away
take his language
and his religion
break down his traditions at the root
make him see in anything unlike himself
the definition of something beautiful
III.
why you all turned up at the lip
when you the one artificial
IV.
a chemical straightener
permeates the hair to strip its protein at the root
in this way
we continue to teach ourselves
that to be broken down is beautiful
V.
i been natural for ten years now
it is safe to say i live here
i do not travel back to any place
that nature never intended
VI.
the back to africa movement began in the 1800s
as a simple wish for people to return to a kind of home
it met with majority Black opposition
believing Africa to be
less than the America they came from
VII.
the journey from chemical to not
is more than anything you do with your hair
it is building back what’s been taken away
to settle complete into your own space
VIII.
the word natural
means to be marked by freedom from affectation or constraint
to declare your own concept of beauty
to walk in restoration
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