Hair Up, Hair Down

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He likes G better with her hair down. The boy tells this to G. 

            G leaves her hair down and it gets caught in the blender. 

She is processing her emotions plus her thoughts about him acting out. 

            The other day, she sat down to write a poem, and pulled 

Back her thin lines of time, and he went, wow. He told G he likes her 

            Better with her hair up now. In a bun, a ponytail, or two braids. 

G could never say it, but she likes him with his hair all self-aware. 

            Hair that says thank you, and you look beautiful, but 

You are the most beautiful beside me. G likes her boyfriend best

With kind hair. Straight and to the point hair. Newton’s law

of gravity hair. What goes up must come back down hair. 

Isaac must have been staring at G’s straight, honey mane.

If G’s boy is not careful, Newton might steal his girl, but

G is concerned only with the words of Matthew, specifically

Matthew 5:5. The meek and gentle shall inherit the Earth. G reads

this to the boy. G hopes that the boy will love her like god loves her. 

Counting and loving each hair on her head. G raises a thick, wild

Strand of hair up to the light and she sees right through it. 



Emma Jane Sullivan is a writer and artist living in Springfield, Missouri. She is currently teaching and studying in the Department of English at Missouri State University. She is currently working on a novel. This is her first publication.

NOVUS Literary and
Arts Journal
Lebanon, TN