"Two wrongs may not make a right but a thousand wrongs make a writer.”

Thursday, October 24, 2013

RUBY (Friday Flash 55)

My hair falls out in front of my eyes
but the sun breaks through the frosted glass
of the shower and hot water sluices
off my shoulders and breasts.
I twirl strands into tufts on the tile,
like locks in a baby book.
Baby’s first haircut.
It doesn't even hurt, and I towel myself dry.

 
A Friday Flash 55. Fifty-Five words for the G-Man

TGIF

17 comments:

Margaret said...

... I hope this is just the usual amount of hair and not something due to chemotherapy... I have had a number of friends fighting breast cancer lately... this has an unusual poignant lilt to it... beautifully written, though.

hedgewitch said...

I finally cut all mine off, and I've worn it waist length all my life--the curls on the tile were getting depressing.

I too felt a sadness of letting something go in this, (and hope it is not health related) along with an intimacy of looking inward.

G-Man said...

Two Words.... Comb Over!!!!
Trust me Yvonne.... Losing the hair is frightening, but what ya gonna do?
Loved your Fall Out 55
Thanks for playing, and yeah I'm Geeked that you are back, and please have a Kick Ass Week End

Yvonne Osborne said...

Margaret,
No chemo, thankfully, just introspective fiction. Though I tire of all the "pink" noise and wish they'd start talking about the cause (and we all know what it is) instead of a cure.

Hedgewitch,
I think it's time for a haircut too. You're right, the curls on the tile are getting tiresome. Sometime I miss my black hair and I'll probably miss the long kinky stuff too. Thanks!!!

G-Man
A woman with a comb over? Wouldn't that be styling! Thanks for hosting. We're getting out of Dodge next week but I'll see you the week after.

TALON said...

This made me think of my sister, recently gone through chemo...and my heart twisted. To be able to accept the loss, embrace it...it's like embracing life.

Mary said...

Really loved this very sensitively written '55.' I think it is a poem, with its evocative imagery, that can be taken in various ways...which makes for very effective poetry!

Susie Clevenger said...

This does remind me of losing hair because of chemo..but yet it could be pure freedom of reinventing one's self...lovely piece!!

Alice Audrey said...

If you've grown it for a long time, that can be traumatic, "pain" or not.

Grandmother Mary said...

My sister-in-law had long curly hair when she was to start chemo so she cut it short but still grieved when it fell out. Glad yours was figurative rather than literal.

Anthony Duce said...

Such great imagery in the words… Wonderful story.

Brian Miller said...

i like the wrap around in this....from baby to an age of maturity...at least that is the way i read it....it adds a softness to it...

Anonymous said...

Hi Yvonne-- I found this quite sensual actually - and the hair on the tiles not scary -- (Even young people leave hair on tiles!) I liked the strong sense of place and sensation --

(In terms of cuts - mine is about half an inch long and feels pretty great!) Take care, k.

Yvonne Osborne said...

Talon,
Thank you.

Mary,
Thanks.That's nice.

Susie,
Thanks! Sometimes a haircut feels like an invention. Think I need one....

Alice,
Thank you for commenting!

Mary,
Thank you. I can't imagine the trauma of losing your hair. Hope I have a nicely shaped head, should that ever happen! Hair is such a personal thing.

Anthony,
Thank you so much!

Brian,
Yeah, I tried to connect the bookends. Thanks.

K.,
Thanks for taking the sensual from this. It's rather where I was going.


J.B. Chicoine said...

Whenever I cut my hair--it was a year's worth of growth this last time--I always feel like I should have waited till it was a little longer and then I could donate it to a good cause, but I get so anxious for change. It always makes me sad to see the severed ends of healthy, untreated hair piled in the waste basket. How is it that no matter the cause of 'hair loss', it always feels so precarious?

Yvonne Osborne said...

Hi J.B.,
Hair is so personal, maybe more so to women than men. I find it depressing that so many women feel they have to dye their hair at the first sight of gray. I fell into that trap for a while. It's hard to claw your way back to natural, once you've started down the dyed hair path. If salt and pepper is "distinguished" on a man, it can be even more so on a woman.

Anonymous said...

It will just be a couple of months before I cut my hair to donate to Wigs for Kids. It takes a while to get that much.

Yvonne Osborne said...

Razz,
That's very cool. What a good cause. Thanks!