Hair

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Somaya Tahir

 

At age 1, bald,

A quick and easy slickback,

My mortal enemy: the wind.

 

At age 3, two fun-sized ponytails,

My mother pulled all my hair back,

To shape youthful springs on my head.

 

At age 8, a single messy ponytail,

The year I learned to tie my own hair,

Returning from school with a knotted mess.

 

At age 10, a loose braid,

My front bangs refused to cooperate,

Another 5 years of bad hair days.

 

At age 15, open and curled,

Discovered my matured high school tastes,

Swarmed in a storm of compliments.

 

At age 18, hijab,

Concealed those hairs I had dyed, tied, and loved,

Let go of the frames that defined my face,

The waves that flowed down my back,

And the strands I nurtured so fondly.

 

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Somaya Tahir attends Rutgers Business School, among the graduating class of 2027. Her hometown is Teaneck, New Jersey. She wrote the poem “Hair” to help explain the importance of her hijab to herself. She writes, “As any girl would have an attachment to her hair, I am no different. However, there was a sacrifice I made for a greater, divine purpose, and I do not regret my choice one bit. Since no one can actually see my hair, writing this poem allowed me to use visual adjectives to describe it. In some way, I reminded myself that, although it is concealed, I still have hair.”