Hair Tips for Poets
by Chris Green
1.
Look at Frost: “The clouds were low and hairy in the skies,
Like locks blown forward in the gleam of eyes.”
2.
Remember, hair is a miracle, like metaphor.
At your desk, rake your fingers through its sea.
3.
A bad perm spondees, a heartbreak or nightmare
(this gives your poem that harsh, artificial look).
4.
If the hairline’s receding, call it snow-melt,
Cut what you must.
5.
At times, the poem must lift:
Dry your hair upside down—mother did.
6.
Chop one lemon 2-cups water spritz:
There’s poetry in home-made hair spray.
7.
Hair should never be surprising.
Inevitably, hair should be silent.
8.
Hair should lie naturally like snow.
Hair worn long should not be prose.
9.
Massage the scalp with ice water.
Each strand an exquisite lament.
10.
Comb with emotion.
Where there’s death, there are hats..
Chris Green’s poems have appeared in Poetry, Verse, North American Review, RATTLE, 5 AM, Poet Lore, Poetry East and other publications. He lives in Evanston, Illinois, where he teaches writing at Loyola University and DePaul University. He is also a Visiting Fellow at the DePaul University Humanities Center. .
Updated 10/5/07
Chris Green (Illinois)
The Sky Over Walgreens
Poetry. Paper, perfect bound, 78 pp.
$14.95 plus s&h
2007, ISBN 978-0932412-546
Chris Green is a wonderful poet of contemporary American life. Compassionate, candid, funny and smart, these poems explore things we know but are often unable to say about our everyday lives. Encountering other poets, books, animals, marriage, family, even the suburban strip mall – the experiences created by these poems are sources of surprise, light and shadow.
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