Poetry: “At the Root” by Suzanne Levine

At the Root

First came the glamorous hennas, irresistible
to my romantic self, with their Moroccan origins
and smoky intrigue. Intoxicated by names like by-

zantium and aubergine, I religiously bent my head
to receive the thick brush strokes of a one-process
and scheduled fixed appointments. Bound now

to the indigo dyes, decades fell away like a quick
trim until I chose to embrace the inevitable gray
crowning at my pate like Juliet’s cap. Still, some

days I imagined an egg being cracked over my head,
calling my bluff with its glacial pace, as the viscous
obliterated an entire spectrum of color from the charts.

Suzanne Levine’s first poetry collection, Haberdasher’s Daughter (Antrim House, 2010), was a finalist for an Eric Hoffer Award. She holds an MFA from Vermont College and teaches the craft of memoir writing. Suzanne has poems in Drunken Boat, New Delta Review, Bellingham Review, Stand Magazine (UK), Permafrost and others. She is co-founder of Praiano Writers, a yearly writers’ conference held on the Amalfi Coast, see praianowriters.com for more information and suzannelevine.net.