Featured Image by Ishani Das

Deep slumber has met its end

I get off my bed 

a black waterfall rises

and falls beyond my shoulders

a million streams of water

dark as the night

relish in their freedom

just as I grab a hair tie

tie them up

and get to the day.

 

Hours later

the waterfall is long gone

replaced by an angry

monsoon cloud

not as perfect in shape as it was

in the morning

I pull the hair tie

it rains down to my waist

only to have a comb

shoved down its throat

breaking off its velocity

a few strands rebel

but fail and fall to the ground

in a mess, no one wants to deal with.

 

Through the day

banned from expressing

it’s free will

after leaving it open

only to find it going

in directions, I’m not supposed

to follow

my hair

breathes

as a tangled mess of thoughts

each more knotted than the first

shampoo commercials feed it fire

but just as it’s ready to get what it’s worth

my anxious mind

tightens the spiral

holding my ponytail.

 

It doesn’t breathe freely

until midnight

when it lies sprawled

across the pillows

unhinged

uninhibited

no hair ties, no clips, no combs

just unadulterated independence 

free like I can only

dream to be

I drown in the guilt

of not letting them live

till I fall asleep.

 

Early Morning

still dark outside

faint hissing through my dreams

I wake up to

the wrath of a goddess

over my head

punished for a crime I didn’t commit

slithering softly

the snakes like to whisper

darkness in parseltongue

until my mind is darker than death

I roll over to

grab the scissors off the bedside table

cut off their heads

split at the tip

and watch them bleed black

in drops that vanish

before they hit the ground

a sigh and a blanket snuggle later

I’m back asleep.

By Adritanaya Tiwari

Adritanaya Tiwari is a dental student from India who has been published in Nightingale and Sparrow Magazine and Live Wire. She spends her time making strange analogies and calming her artsy alter-ego to focus on never-ending syllabus. She can be found on Instagram and Twitter – @adrillusioned.