This Small Violence

Image Source, Europeana (Unsplash)

Now sit for this ritual,

and the boar bristles that like to

rip hair from the root.

After, watch the strands of silk

stand still in the soft light

and the silence.

Dig out the brush’s bones,

unearth the filth,

another bodily parting.

This came from you,

this coarse gold deadness and

the hot sting in the scalp.

Witness this small violence

of womanhood:

brutal, bruising and beautiful.

by Sophie Raoufi

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