Bowing in the Church of Beauty
By Amanda Johnston

Hymns are swinging low
from a cassette boom-box
pulsing between dusty bottles
of curl activator and ancient blow out kits
made new in the contemporary retro wave.

Worshippers return from Sunday service
to their respective houses of beauty
where baptized kinks become straight
and narrow as the good books decree.

Jet – Old Testament
Essence – New Testament
O – Queen Winfrey’s Version

These sistas sing and shout
a joyful noise louder than the whirring
hairdryers blowing a hot freeze
over stylish bouffant crowns.

Got to look good for the week’s worst
they say and God don’t like ugly.
I know. Not wanting to be rude
my wild atheist hair bows at the sink’s edge,
if not for salvation, at least congregation.

Copyright © Amanda Johnston. All rights reserved. Used by permission of the author

Cave Canem fellow and Affrilachian poet, Amanda Johnston has performed across the country for various causes and events. Honors include a 2003 and 2004 Artists Enrichment grant from the Kentucky Foundation for Women and the 2005 Christina Sergeyevna Award for Best Poem in their international anthology, di-verse-city. Currently, Johnston serves on the Board of Directors for the National Women's Alliance, is a member of The Austin Project - a collaborative venture among women of color artists, scholars, and activists led by Sharon Bridgforth and Dr. Omi Osun Olomo, and is a co-founder of The Gibbous Moon Collective.

Copyright © 1997-2006 by Cave Canem Foundation, Inc.

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