i will cut off all my hair and use each strand
as another bar of music each bird an unbridled note
i want the dark birds they’re more easily read
they can use my hair as nesting threads
you have said you won’t love me without
my woman power—what protects—my veil
i say: my burden—what strangles—dead tendrils
of pleasing pleasing appeasing
follicles which have no sheen or motion
i sit on my hellish yellow chair without my hair shirt
in my man’s suit and small man’s shoes my legs wide
like a man’s smoke issuing from fingers
immaterial green bird in my lap
from Daylily Called it a Dangerous MomentFind more by Alessandra Lynch at the library
Copyright © 2017 Alessandra Lynch
Used with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC on behalf of Alice James Books.