everything feeds process

Consultation with the Day Makers

Listen, the last thing we want
is a hot shaft, so watch your titration.
Measure your grams carefully
and weigh each chemical
before mixing.  Know the difference 

between your agent and re-agent, between
the gradient, the vertical, and the asymmetrical
cuts.  Keep your lines even. Use this lock
as your guide. You are so lucky, you get 

another transformation, the second
in one week. You get to burn
and clip damaged ends, shape
unruly masses into well-tamed symmetry.
Don’t worry, this always happens to me. 

You can shear the ends, clean
the edges using your reflection. We must always
scrutinize the product from another perspective,
from varying heights, until the eye
trains itself, notices every imperfection.
This is what we studied for.   

***

Over at Read Write Poem, Jill and Carolee are hosting a really interesting poetry mini-challenge.  For five days in a row, you must write a poem based on something you overheard.  I’m an unrepentant eavesdropper, so I was really excited to start this challenge. The only question was, “When do I start?” Can I keep up five whole days of poem writing? Can I overhear good poem seeds for five straight days?  When I was at the salon yesterday, I overheard much of the above poem, so today was as good a day as any to get started. 

I think this challenge may be as much about training your ears and and eyes, then it is about manufacturing inspiration consistently.  Truly, I could probably hear a poem almost anywhere.  I just have to listen for it. 

(By the way, the picture above was taken in my salon.  The salon doubles as a training academy for recently graduated beauty school students, so the stylists without clients were practicing on these creepy wigged heads. I just had to take a picture.)