Early Rituals
unfold the box
first day of school holidays
mulberry hair dye at the chemist
$4.95 for six weeks of tinted revolt
the uniform
absurd plastic gloves
rip open
the first juicy tang of chemicals
the tattered robe skyclad beneath
plum juice beetroot juice
combed to the roots
your mother wipes red from your ears
you stalk the timer’s tick
inspect the oil slick of scalp
metamorphose into grown up
you can dye your hair do anything
at last
in the shower dye bruises water
six weeks pass back at school
brown hair flaunts summer’s last jacaranda
you hope secretly for the detention
Other poems from Zenobia Frost's collection 'Salt and Bone'