Canton Writes 2022: 1st Place HS Poetry

The Canton Citizen, a sponsor of the annual Canton Writes contest, will publish a selection of winning entries from the 2022 contest as space permits.

Curl Up: An Abecedarian
By Abigail Martin
1st Place (Tie) – High School Poetry

Although I’m not the type of girl to wear
Bows in my hair or imagine a
Crown on my head, I curled my hair last night,
Drowning my locks in hairspray until they
Eventually stayed in
Fried ringlets
Glistening down my back as I
Held my head high.
In a trance, I admired my piece of art
Jingling from my scalp as the
Kinks bounced with every proud step I took
Leaving the house for school.

Maybe I was
Nervous of what they would think
Of a girl who tried too hard
Primping her hair in place just to sit
Quietly in the back of the room. I felt
Ridiculous and wished that my hair, still
Soft from the blow dryer, would
Tangle like it did other days so I could fly
Under the radar from judgemental thoughts that carry
Venom. Their soft eyes, only filled with kindness felt like daggers
Waging war on my brain as I tried to scan them like an
X-Ray to decide if they liked it or not. I
Yearn for approval, but when I get that
Zap I want to curl up and never try to stand out again.

Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=88543

Posted by Canton Citizen on Jul 8 2022. Filed under Featured Content, Opinion. Both comments and pings are currently closed.