Roots tingling
Feels like love
Head soothed,
Teeth biting through
Tangled strands.
Cross-legged
On the classroom carpet
Hearing stories while
Forgotten first friends
Plait
Braid
Twist
Split hairs.
I even liked my hair being pulled
By vainglorious boys in pursuit of a kiss.
Moving up to girlie nights in
with crimpers and tongs,
Sizzling keratin, dodgy perms,
Muddy hennas, hot-oils,
Gels, wax and serum -
Putting the shine back in
As glossy youth is lost.
I used to brush my daughter's hair,
Feel it slip through my fingers
Now she is reluctant to be fussed
It is short
She is taller,
But my son still takes my comb
With tenderness in each stroke
I know it can't last,
It calms my fears,
Even thoughts need to be touched
Cradled and caressed,
We sit chatting
Cross-legged
Laughing and putting the world to rights.
He rubs my temples
And weaves his stories
Into my tired hair.
Suzanne Fairless-Aitken
Suzanne Fairless-Aitken is a mum from Hexham, who was recently elected as Northumberland County Councillor & Hexham Town Councillor for the LibDems. She works for international poetry publisher, Bloodaxe Books, and also runs her own editing company, Swift Permissions. In her murky past she has been a school governor, activist and campaigner for education, green issues, anti-austerity and anti-corruption.
She writes in any spare time she can find.
