For Mom on her something-somethingth birthday

As I approach my Jesus year, I thought
I'd dye my hair Deep Copper
On Facebook I called it My So-Called Life Moment
Which you, Mom, didn't get.
Well, here's the moment:



Angela's color is Crimson Glow
Mine's supposed to be Deep Copper,
And Mom, because I know you'll ask
That's Claire Danes at fifteen or so

So why did it take me so long?

There was no point in rebelling against you
You wouldn't have cried, like her mother did
You would have said, "Express yourself,
If that's what makes you happy,"
and not in a snotty way.

You were better than that Mom in the Target commercial
with the improbably cute triplets
You never would have made me color code

And now my hair goes with my dinner
Rainbow chard, toasted millet pilaf, and pan-seared
summer squash
You taught me to cook like this
Even if you never really taught me how



So what am I rebelling against?
Maybe I'm having a third-life crisis or maybe I'm
catching myself creeping boring
Probably I'm attention-seeking
Definitely I'm experimenting
But mostly I think I just felt like it

Maybe there's power in doing that thing you just feel like doing
I mean, maybe my hair really has been holding me back

Because you asked for a picture
And because it's your birthday,
I will post these here
Even though they don't quite catch
the iridescent-ness of my new head



It's hard to get the color right in the kitchen at night by myself when I just got back from the gym and don't want to show too much of my sweaty face



The color's redder than it looks here
More radioactive "fashion forward"