Hair Poems

I crave your mouth, your voice, your hair.
Silent and starving, I prowl through the streets.
Bread does not nourish me, dawn disrupts me, all day
I hunt for the liquid measure of your steps.
...

O fleece, that down the neck waves to the nape!
O curls! O perfume nonchalant and rare!
O ecstasy! To fill this alcove shape
With memories that in these tresses sleep,
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A pin has a head, but has no hair;
A clock has a face, but no mouth there;
Needles have eyes, but they cannot see;
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I scrub the long floorboards
in the kitchen, repeating
the motions of other women
who have lived in this house.
...

Thy hue, dear pledge, is pure and bright
As in that well - remember'd night
When first thy mystic braid was wove,
And first my Agnes whisper'd love.
...

1

You scream, waking from a nightmare.
...

Ivy ties the cellar door
in autumn, in summer morning glory
wraps the ribs of a mouse.
Love binds me to the one
...

XVIII

I never gave a lock of hair away
To a man, Dearest, except this to thee,
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The light that rises from your feet to your hair,
the strength enfolding your delicate form,
are not mother of pearl, not chilly silver:
you are made of bread, a bread the fire adores.
...

Dear can you help me for a while?
asked apologetically for a good smile,
’No’ replied a friend, keeping distance mile,
worries all around so can’t smile,
...

Poets wax eloquent on the tresses
Of fair maidens framing their faces
Like dark clouds surrounding the moon
Or like the coolness of shade at noon
...

Todesfugue ('Death Fugue')
by Paul Celan
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
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Todesfuge ('Death Fugue')
by Paul Celan
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
...

Your head,
Your hair,
Original hair,
From birth;
...

Naomi, what did you do to your hair? !
How do you wash it?
How does it do THAT? !
Is it naturally like that?
...

Naomi, what did you do to your hair? !
How do you wash it?
How does it do THAT? !
Is it naturally like that?
...

So Im in Starbucks buying this expensive stupid coffee
And this white girl is staring at me with this stupid grin on her stupid face
and i knew what she wanted
I knew exactly what was gonna happen next
...

A Sonnet on my previously unruly curls
-Gayathri B. Seetharam
I heard that an unknown gentleman asked of me
A lock of my hair
...

You must visit Balaji temple once
about a crore people
tonsure their heads there annually
In peak season
...