HairyCane

He asked me what I was going through

See he couldn’t understand the new ‘me’

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised

‘cause as of late all eyes had been on me

I had changed.

Once quiet breeze now Hairycane..

I refrained from chemically altering my hair

How dare I be free?

“your hair used to be so pretty”

Was all they could say the day I walked in

Rockin’ two strand twists

Twisted their minds one mo’ time

With silk locs but no I wouldn’t stop there

Scared them straight when corn rows draped my shoulders

Made bolder by the black wooden beads engraved with free…’huru’ in Swahili

They can’t see the beauty in that

Not the flyness of my headwraps or the

Love I see in my naps

Kinked up and fro’d out

I’m much more concerned about the content of my character

Rather than the straightness of my mane

Had to retrain my own thinking as to what this queen’s crown should look like

And despite the pressure from company execs.

They truly expected a tete-et-tete to intimidate me into who I used to be

I just smiled

Raised my arched brow

Leaned in uncomfortably close

And said hell no

My ‘fro has nothing to do with my work

But everything to do who I am

And I gives a dayum about your promotions

Or your Eurocentric notions about what success looks like

Are my figures right?

Do my calculations sync?

They do? Then worry less about my naps and kinks

And more about the caliber of my labor

Do me a favor and weigh my conscious cloud against the way I’ve allowed

The demands of my vocation to take over my vacations and the countless hours

From home that I’ve droned away at my tasks and not even asked you for the overtime that is

Rightfully mine.

So I decline your offers of assimilation and remain in the station

You’ve relegated for me as “not a team player” while you give your

“There is no “I” in team” spiel

But let’s keep it real, there’s no “u” in team either. You fail to see the true meaning

Of the word.

It’s 4 different letters coming together for one purpose; to create something that cannot be created

by each letter alone…but please hone in on the catcher

no 2 letters are the same

Rather, they are all unique and don’t change themselves to complete the task of building a word

So it’s absurd to think that in order to be team we have to all be the same

Or look the same

Or think the same

you need my hairycane to shake this thang’ up!

I’ve given up way too much of myself already

So what you see right now

Is what you get and if that doesn’t work, then go find your Stedfort

Employee and let me go.

Cause I know who I am

and that’s not going to change

not your quiet breeze

you’ll see me coming

Hairycane