A strand of thin brown hair falls into the crease of my elbow
I brush it away
Another lands softly on the table and sticks
Sign of stress
Sign of aging
My hair is everywhere, my friend says. But her locks are thick and long
and mine are sparse
Just relax, I tell myself as I seek to do everything…perfectly…to prove
No jello streaks on the kitchen floor
Blanket straight on the back of the chair
Vacuum in the single closet
prove, move, fix
Little boys happy
Toys stashed in proper places
A long strand ends up in my mouth
The average person loses 125 strands of hair a day
46 47 48
Trichotillomania- the obsessive habit of pulling out your own hair
Another strand falls and I have to believe that is is number 126
So beyond the legal limit
I fall to the floor with it
My fingers searching to clean it up before anyone sees
my imperfection in brown
on a white tiled floor
curled slightly at the end
twisting up towards the ceiling
I pinch it between my two fingers
carry it over to the sink
and wash it down the drain
