Kes(ki): Resilience
Long, black waves
Flow down and down and down.
Waves part with the teeth of a comb,
But come together again
Like the diasporic separation of my own
Identity
I watch the black and brown
Fall to the ground
Like leaves fall from their
Branches, from their
Roots, calling it quits before the
Winter and the world freeze over
Feeling the strength within each hair
The collective strength of my hair
My kes
Rolling it together, folding it inwards
Making it stronger and more resistant
To the questions we will face
The challenges we will overcome
My roots
My hair wrapped up
Lovingly
In layers of fabric
Each a representative for the sacrifices made
For me
For you
For Sikhs
The mirror shows a friend
And a stranger
Someone unknown to you
Perhaps one you should fear
The dastaar I see as fabric of my identity
You have been taught to fear as a turban of resistance
A symbol of terror
A sign of pain
My keski has made you fear me
Knock me down and keep me down
Denying my lineage
And yet, I still rise
