For as long as I can remember,
\nmy mom braided my hair,
\nHer fingers take my hair in three parts
\nat the top of my head, she starts
\nwith a glass full of water.
\nIn that I sat, shifting to the right
\nthen to the left; a cup of water
\nshe dips her fingers in and continues.<\/p>\n
10 years later I stare at my own eyes:
\n\u201cMom was right.\u201d
\nI grab my hair, look at the comb.
\n\u201cShould\u2019ve learned. . .\u201d
\nMy hands reach for my phone, my fingers glide as they type
\n\u201cHow to braid your own hair\u201d
\nENTER.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne day you will have to learn this.\u201d
\nI say nothing,
\nIn those days I wasn\u2019t into braids.
\nI thought of it being too girly
\nThat went with bright pink dresses
\nTight skin tights that matched the hair ties.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t like braids.\u201d I pouted.
\nArms crossed and eyes wandering. Impatient.<\/p>\n
Three sections is what I remembered:
\nOne over the other and I repeat,
\nMy first braid loose and messy.
\nI lowered my head. My first try
\nHanging down my back.
\nProud that I did it, I stood straight.
\nNext time:<\/p>\n
I took the three sections:
\nTipping my head back to help me
\nWith the weaving.
\nOne over the other
\nI lay over with my fingers tighten as I go.
\nCareful not to let any strands free or left out.
\nI continue until my hair runs out.
\nI get up with a better braid\u2026.
\nBetter than the last, the first messy braid.<\/p>\n
My lips slip into a smile
\n\u201cI finally learned how to braid.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For as long as I can remember, my mom braided my hair, Her fingers take my hair in three parts at the top of my head, she starts with a glass full of water. In that I sat, shifting to the right then to the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3277,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-124042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marathon-poem"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3277"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124042"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":124044,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124042\/revisions\/124044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}