<\/p>\n
It Starts with Her Awkward Hairline<\/strong><\/p>\n the bit behind her ear, along the bone, <\/p>\n It Starts with Her Awkward Hairline the bit behind her ear, along the bone, I accidentally on purpose stroke as the comb starts to move freely. Her head between my knees, a kiss on her lobe \u2014 something she wouldn\u2019t get in a salon \u2014 and fingers that look for further lugs. The part […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[135,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2016-poetry-picks","category-prose-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10119"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23812,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10119\/revisions\/23812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nI accidentally on purpose stroke
\nas the comb starts to move freely. Her head
\nbetween my knees, a kiss on her lobe \u2014
\nsomething she wouldn\u2019t get in a salon \u2014
\nand fingers that look for further lugs.
\nThe part along her neck too, the transition
\nof neck and scalp, like beach and sea
\nwhere hairs grow upward. Once she
\nhid it from view, calling herself simian;
\nand now it\u2019s a zone<\/em>, one she says I made
\nfor her, that wasn\u2019t there before.
\nI kiss this too, following the teeth
\nand say: \u2018Repeat: \u201cI am beautiful.\u201d\u2019
\nShe says: \u2018You<\/em> are beautiful.\u2019 Still that\u2019s
\nbetter than it was, as I work on her
\none stage at a time. All that\u2019s left now
\nis the style, and I start back with the comb,
\nfan out a fringe as she watches TV.
\nThe filaments are the days we\u2019ve got left.
\nRoots of silver I cover with cosmic blue.
\nAnd here an echo, almost unheard.
\nI did this for another. I was smaller.
\nWe had an electric fire. She wore
\nrollers. And it was far from a chore,
\nrather utmost pleasure, untangling
\nstrands until they flowed like rivers.
\nI still seem to know how much pressure
\nto apply, not to hurt a single nerve.<\/p>\n
\nPatri Wright<\/strong> has been shortlisted for the 2015 Bridport Prize, and poems from his pamphlet Nullaby<\/em> have been published in several magazines, including Agenda and\u00a0Brittle Star<\/em>. He is a Lecturer at The Open University and teaches Creative Writing.\u00a0 Website: www.patrickiwright.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"