Split Ends

bang

or bangs

to thrust

or to hold

death girths

a dash of rebirth

and I perish    

once more

I cut my hair

after the infamous call

no bang or bangs

just straight

black

hair

mother tells me

it’s a Navajo tradition

hair is              memory

hair is              nizhóní

my hair is swept

disposed of

and I

am released

from

the black        

barber shawl

at dawn

sister sips

her five-dollar pinot   

and whispers

Death is           life

Death is           us

Edgewater clan

a mirror

Mother Earth

and her tears

tantrums

of brevity

spin upon us

habitual

we bird box our eyes

we pray for renewal

eclipse

after

eclipse

Sun

and Moon

embrace

to Milky Chance songs

moccasin

after

moccasin

I learn to dance again

Sarah Liese is a Full Circle Fellow at the Sundance Institute, while she pursues her master’s degree in journalism at Ohio University. She is a Diné and Chippewa poet in the early stages of my poetry career. Her poems have been featured in the online publication Indigenous Goddess Gang.