"I have known you well along my bottom lip"
Self-care, sponsored by plants.
Ode to Shea Butter
by Angel Nafis
I have known you well along my bottom lip, corners of my mouth,
crown of my skull, base of my back, ass, heel of my foot, in between
my toes, beds of my nails, around the belly button. Capping my knees,
elbows, breasts, shoulders, rubbed deep into my afro. Every single day.
& night too. Before bed I sit up tired, ready to go wherever it is
we go when we close our eyes. But first you save me. I use you to
mold my kinks into twists, into black knuckles. Oh you save me
from morning afro disasters I know are waiting for me. A packed down
flat cake of dry black wool. Unmanageable. Unfuckwittable. Late for work
tryna to make it work. But with you I am on time. & wild like I wanna be
fluffy three dimensional lioness in wolf’s clothing. With you I gleam. I win
the contest folks say don’t exist. Don’t you see? You force love for me,
from me. You coax love like a sky coax smoke from a chimney. I am Black
& gleaming & even babies know it. Dogs know it. Grown women know.
& trees, & the whole ocean know. All of them look at me with a pebble
in their throats. & I shimmer a good song off my skin. The best Black song
off my skin. Oh look at me, walk the street knowing what daybreak knows.
Lookatmememememe. & look at you, shea butter! Never leaving me.
Like a film of rain along my palms. You stay for minutes/hours/whole days.
& I leave little greasy continents of you everywhere I touch.
& I could almost be embarrassed but I leave little shining ponds, man.
I leave lakes. Perfect mirrors, everywhere, everywhere I go.Â
By Angel Nafis, from Prelude, Issue 2, 2016
Photograph of Frost by Wilson Bentley, ca. 1910
Creative Invitation
Skin loves the oils of nuts, seeds and fruits; loves butters and creams. When we have enough extra nuts, seeds and fruits that we can turn them into oils and salves for our skin, rather than food for our bellies, we are lucky.
Which plants do you depend on? I depend on the jojoba plant, a native of the Sonoran desert. I use the oil pressed from its seeds daily. But I only encounter it in a plastic bottle; I realized while writing this that I don’t know what it looks like. Tonight I will learn about the plant, so I can have more relationship with her and thank her in a genuine way.
What acts of tending do you do for yourself? What acts of grooming make you feel you look good, like your true self? What plants are you in relationship with? How do you thank them?