POEM BY: Rajah Ferdinand
ARTIST STATEMENT: My poem is about how love, struggle, and identity are carried forward through simple but powerful rituals. I explore the passing of memory through generations of women in my family. Using the setting of a grandmother’s home and the ritual of hair care, I show how everyday moments can hold deep emotional and cultural meaning. I used repetition and fragmented language to reflect how memories surface in waves rather than in a straight line.
Bees fly past me, buzzing
Al Green as I enter the house
I’m greeted by the hot seat—
the one that has remained.
Be still.
The words race through my mind
Be still.
Be. Still.
Sizzling glides through my hair
I’m flooded with memories that have traveled
from Monroe
to Harden
to Ferdinand.
My cousins taking turns in the hot seat,
rushing to see whose hair was longest.
Bumped ends dangling from my shoulders.
Cries and plaits.
My mother’s mind racing,
and her mother’s,
and her mother’s.
Now I’m drowning
in soon-to-be memories
my daughters yelling—
Ow!
Ow!
Ow!
Extending my bumped ends
my confidence, my cries and plaits,
my mother,
her mother,
and her mother—
all the power
in one comb.
