Nappy Poem

Little girl,
Our hair is…
Super-nappturally NAPPY
Super-eminently NAPPY
Super-abundantly NAPPY

Our hair is…
Break the comb NAPPY
Run out the chair NAPPY
Scalp just can't bear NAPPY

Our hair is…
"Left-hand turn" NAPPY
Scream for a perm NAPPY
Perm 'til you burn NAPPY

Our hair is...
Pull........ouch
Twist........ouch
Turn........ouch
Kink........ouch
Coil........ouch
Snap........ouch
Crack........ouch
Pop........ouch
NAPPY!!!

But girl, God didn't give us nothin'
we couldn't handle!

It's back of the bus NAPPY
It's Underground Railroad NAPPY
"Ain't I a Woman" NAPPY
Lay down with Massa NAPPY
And bear his children NAPPY
Though misbegotten NAPPY
While pickin' cotton NAPPY

It's Harriet Tubman
Sojourner Truth
Mary McCleod
Rosa Parks
Ella Baker
Josephine Baker
Ida B. Wells
Zora Neal Hurston
Sonja Sanchez and
Angela Davis,
NAPPY!!

'Cause girl, God didn't give us nothin'
we couldn't handle!

© Charisse A. Carney-Nunes, 2003