Susie Clevenger tells us about the book, then includes several quotations from it for our inspiration for the Sunday Mini-Challenge. I found it hard to choose one quotation, or so I thought for quite a while, until I realized I kept going back to this one.
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| Wikimedia photos |
“You can tell which girls lack mothers by the look of their hair...”
Every morning before school
my mother would braid my hair
in two long braids, so tight
I couldn't close my eyes
or even blink.
Every day after school
my friend Gloria
across the street
would undo my braids
and put my hair
up in a ponytail.
Every day I went home
from Gloria's house
afraid my mother
would shoot me
for not keeping
my hair in braids.
But that wassixty years ago,
and I'm still here,
so I guess she didn't.
By Kay Davies, September 29, 2013
dedicated to my friend Gloria
in memory of my mother, Pauline Davies,
and her mother, Jean Newton.
14 comments:
I love this. It reminded me of my mother who wore those same braids and had the same kind friend who freed her from them :)
Ahhhhh.... That's why you've now cut your hair short.
Ah, friendship and the memory of the kind things that friends have done.
Funny remembering the pain and the re-do, but not the mother's reaction. I am glad you were spared. My 1st grade picture shows the same braids, oh yeah, and if it showed all of me you'd see the white socks and saddle shoes.
awww. when i was very young, my mother kept my hair very short, and i pined for long tresses. i thought i'd want to be friends with any girl who had long hair. took me a while to realize that was a whacked perspective. :)
funny. Glad she refrained!
My mom never did my hair and it was horrible till I learned how to do it myself. But sometimes my grandma would skin my hair back in a tight ponytail that pulled my eyes back, and pinned up all my bangs, saying "you should expose your Noble Brow!" and I would bike down the alleyways, mortified, home to rip the ponytail out and fluff my bangs back out. I wear long bangs to this day....hee hee.
I hate it when the braids are so tight ~ Lovely memories Kay ~
My mother always kept my hair cut short. I was such a tomboy and the cut just seemed to work the best. Thanks for sharing your memories Kay. It is funny how just a few words can bring so much from inside us. Thank you so much for taking part in the challenge.
Testing if I could post... Well, this quote has interesting images too. I mean, life is like that running in braids mother to child... or unwinding it with schoolmates...and of course occasionally the boy in the desk behind you dips one in ink and maybe learns to write a poem...
Sometimes a mother's care can be over-powering of selfhood, even those with the best of intentions.
Awe. She didn't want those braids to fall out... I bet it was a gloriously wavy pony tail!
beautiful childhood memories.....
The voice you use here really works, Kay...great writing!
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