Poetry Pause is the League of Canadian Poets’ daily poetry dispatch. Read “The Comb Over” by Tracy Hamon.

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The Comb Over

by Tracy Hamon

Cock’s comb: red head of a chicken. Plumed spike

of stifling origin. The cap worn by

professional fools. No two are alike.

What ancient ritual makes us cross-eye

worry how we look? Appearances are

everything. Most combovers are long, swept

right, or left, a low part, the handlebar

brushed over the top. Or they may be kept

wrapped up and snaked around. Long thin ends glue

to demands, formalities and habits—

trying to hide our outdated social view.

Some images howl for days, snubbed status—

We then dare to compare through silvered glass

where mirrors show we’re only dust and sass.

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Tracy Hamon was born in Regina, Saskatchewan. She holds an MA in English from the University of Regina. Her first book of poetry, This Is Not Eden, was released in April of 2005 and was a finalist for two Saskatchewan Book Awards. A portion of Interruptions in Glass won the 2005 City of Regina Writing Award and was shortlisted for two Saskatchewan Book Awards in 2010. Her third collection, Red Curls, won the Drs. Morris and Jacqui Shumiatcher Regina Book Award in 2015.

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