Braided for 80 Dollars 

The price of hair keeps getting higher and higher 

And having the talent of doing hair takes longer and longer 

Longer than patience 

I have neither the talent, patience, nor the money 

So, I had to get someone to braid my hair for 80 dollars 

Front porch 

Kitchen 

Living room 

Moving my chair in different areas 

My butt glued sore on the chair 

My tongue gritted at the grip held tightly

As she breathed

Her smoked-out breath 

Reached my nostrils 

Smoke break after smoke break 

Weed? Cigars, cigarettes 

Don’t matter what it is 

She’s smoking 

It was 10 a.m. now turning 1:00 a.m. 

Smoke break after smoke break 

My lungs secondhandedly wept 

Braider got the drama 

Braider got the jokes 

Braider got to arguing

When her friends were trying to be foes 

Braider got the drama

Yet I’m here silently hearing the noise 

Of the bacon burning in the oven 

My view here sitting in the porch 

Of kids who lived in broken apartments 

Chasing cars 

As if they are chasing dreams

-Harmony Crossland