New Poetry by Alexandria Tannenbaum

Putting Up My Daughter’s Hair Before A Bath 

She turns her body away 

curls falling over her shoulder 

like rain on a window.

Her shoulders, 

a comma at the end of a sentence, 

curved and triumphant. 

I take in my hands, 

her curls, which are light–

the weightlessness a wisp 

of all the delicate pieces.

I collect them all:

carefully wrap the rubberband 

bringing it over again and again 

and I lower her into the warm bath water. 

She folds into play with her sister 

droplets of water go unnoticed 

as they lift arms up and out of the water 

birds diving again and again for fish, 

creating colonies of animals, 

and I am rendered useless 

as it gets easier and easier 

to float.

- © Alexandria Tannenbaum 2023

Alexandria Tannenbaum is a poet and twice National Board Certified educator working outside of Chicago, Illinois. She is pursuing a poetry MFA from Lindenwood University. Her poems are published in the journal  Across The Margin, and her poem “The Strip Mall” will be appearing in an upcoming publication of As It Ought To Be Magazine.