Comb

by Sara Backer

Combing the Hair (1920) by Hashiguchi Goyo

​
Swimming laps, the pool water agitates
my hair into knotty strands, split and faded
tangles that reek of chlorine. I wish I could reach

around my head to see my comb at work
as if in Hashiguchi’s print. Her blue robe an ocean
with white cherry blossoms. Her black hair

the length of an ocean, ongoing. Could I learn
to have such patience as I unravel?
What makes a comb a rake?

I watch monks rake white stones
into circles of ridges,
imitating a sea of snowy spirals.


​I meant to write about a pool,
but I became entangled in a comb.

Sara Backer’s first book of poetry, Such Luck, follows two chapbooks: Scavenger Hunt, and Bicycle Lotus, which won the Turtle Island Chapbook Award. Her honors include a prize in the Plough Poetry Competition, ten Pushcart nominations, and fellowships from the Norton Island and Djerassi resident artist programs. Recent publications include Lake Effect, Slant, CutBank Online, Kenyon Review, Poetry Northwest, and Poetry Ireland. She lives in New Hampshire and reads for The Maine Review. ​

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