Jennifer Parkhill

Jennifer Parkhill Instagram – the cowlick
on the back of my head
is in the shape of a vortex.
a whirlpool
yeah,
that’s the word.
.
.
I always thought
that patch of hair
stood up at attention
because too many times,
I’d slept on it wet
bent the follicles
to sway in that direction —
unkempt
.
.
I’ve been taming it,
the cowlick,
wetting it down
in the bathroom mirror
each morning for years
before work
thought that’ll fix it
.
.
last week, I shave my head
and find out the true shape
of this cowlick.
huh.
not what I’d expect.
a whirlpool.
it’s cute, really.
.
.
my mother always said,
from an arial view,
the streets where I grew up
looked like a rose
.
.
I’d say it does look something like a bud
like the growth on the ZZ plant,
Z’s finger’s pointing to the new buds,
one by one
.
.
or like a pussy
the one I’m looking up at now
watching my girlfriend shave
the one they own
.
.
I’m sitting on the bathroom tile
playing with the dog
thinking how
becoming myself
can feel so very pedestrian
a pair of clippers
like the ones we use
to groom the pup
.
.
I’ve contemplated shaving my head
since I first saw GI Jane
and one night we just do it
no time like the present
.
.
I wept
watching years of hair
fall to the ground
like a story
.
.
I felt like a sheep
being sheered after winter
I felt like a mammal
and not just a girl
.
.
I never got the turns right
on those rosebud streets
lost again, leash in hand
blankets of salty fog
.
.
I grew up here.
could I really be this dumb.
.
.
streets that curve
and tumble you back
in the direction from which
you’d come
.
.
but I knew,
when I hit that blue
horizon
I was heading west
all roads lead
to home
.
.
I’m watering a palm tree
I rescued
from a dumpster
and it lives in my living room
in Texas,
always looking a little lost
.
.
that first winter,
I watched those sweet palms
die and wilt under the weight
of snow and frost
.
.
what is a palm tree doing in Texas?
.
.
(Cont in comments or swipe —>)
.
.
📸 @adamcolemandp
.
.
#queerwriter #queer #genderfluid #writersofinstagram #love #music #poets #wordpornoftheday #queerpoet #queerwriter #lesbian #queerpoetry #queerqritersofig #jenparkhill
#queeractor | Posted on 11/Feb/2023 00:15:10