Leap
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Consider the formal requirements of the braid.
The hair must be imagined as not only non-unitary, but tripartite as well;
the strands must be pre-visualized as twisted & interlaced: over, under,
    around, between, in an unbroken pattern;
the problem of securing the tip must be foreseen & overcome by
    conceptualizing a flexible filament that loops around itself.
To conceive of all of this, one must have already mastered the theories of
    unravelling & release; binding & protection; predestination & free will;
    wave action; narrative resolution, & the rupture of the trance state.
The distance between absolute braidlessness & the first braid was
    astronomical compared to the scarcely noticeable gap between the
    simple braid & the double braid; the herringbone braid; the warhorse’s
    mane plaited with tiny bells; braided tiaras with feathers & floating
    tourmalines; cornrows; ply-splitting; brocading; the bobbin; the shuttle;
    the cotton gin; Bob Marley; the polynomial; DNA; modal jazz
    harmonics; & the thirteen simultaneous plotlines of General Hospital.

 

From Leap by Claire Bateman

New Issues Poetry & Prose, Western Michigan University, Dept. of English,
1903 W. Michigan Ave., Kalamazoo, MI 49008-5331
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