By Manoela Torres
She loved the beautiful jungle of loops she carried in her head
She loved how they wrapped around her fingers;
How they couldn’t and wouldn’t be tamed
She loved how stubborn they were:
whenever someone tried to undo them,
they would jump right up and become as lively as ever
She used to love her curls
until she was told her hair should be straight
She wanted to fit into the dull white world
So she changed herself
Their straightener transformed her life spirals into
Dead strips of unremarkable strands
About the writer:
Manoela Torres is a Brazilian writer majoring in Literature with a concentration in Creative Writing and minoring in Art history at Barnard College. She has already worked as a translator for renowned Nobel-award nominee author Carlos Near as well as a blog and article writer for Alouet Consulting and Theideamixradio.
Manoela posts her writing on her Instagram profile @thestreetpoetess and on her website www.badphilosophies.com and is currently working on her first poetry book, “The Moon And her Letters” with Brazilian artist Zamba.
Artwork by: Ketaki Krishnan, follow her on Instagram at @_prussian.blue_
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