Offend to Defend
written by Queen Gidrea
For training,
Before a fight,
One might wrap their fists
Rope
Cotton strip
In a Van Damme movie we might
Dip our hands in organic honey
And crushed window
Protect and vilify our hands
For me
The greatest threat I possess
Is my face
I am of no particular beauty
I am of no particular familiarity
I wasn’t always like this
There was a time when my hair would braid
Now it resists its own tension
Patterns from Iceland, Ghana, East Harlem
Cannot offer my protection
Cannot thread into ropes between my fingers
A shovels edge to the root-
I’ve chosen to wrap my face every morning
Protect and villify
You wouldn’t recognize me either way
And we’re all a lot more comfortable
<Long guard>
My hair pinned
And teased between
Fine combs and ancestral ornaments
Wrap my curls over dynamite
Bright silence
And I
Remind me that my strength is contingent
Upon the new challenge
