"The fro is homage, shrubbery, and revolt - all at once"

— Allison Joseph, "Thirty Lines About the 'Fro" 

Allison Joseph was born in London, England to Caribbean parents and grew up in Toronto, Canada, and the Bronx, New York. Joseph is a poet, professor, and editor. She has published a total of eight poetry collections, the most recent being Smart Pretender, published in 2019 by Finishing Line Press. In that year alone, she was the recipient of over a dozen awards for her work. In addition to being an associate professor of English at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, she is also the director of the university's MFA Program in Creative Writing, the poetry editor of the university's literary magazine, Crab Orchard Review, and the director of Writers In Common, a writing conference (sponsored by SIUC) open to writers of all ages and levels of experience. 

I'll be reviewing Joseph's poem, "Thirty Lines About the 'Fro,'' a free verse poem celebrating black identity. The subject of the poem, the fro, is considered literally (as a way individuals of African descent wear their hair) and figuratively. This is achieved through poetic devices such as personification, metaphors, and alliteration, in addition to colloquialism and allusion. What I've learned from reading this poem is that the literal and figurative cannot be isolated from one another; the two are inseparable. 

Joseph personifies the fro and uses metaphors for the fro to characterize African Americans. An example of personification in the poem is, "The fro wants to sleep on a silk pillowcase, / abhorring the historical atrocity of cotton" (Joseph, lines 4-5). I absolutely love these lines. In one sense, the fro is literally resistant to the cotton material of the pillowcase. I identify as Black and Latina and my hair texture is a blend of my mother's (who is Black) and father's (who is Latino). While I have curly hair, I cannot grow a fro. However, growing up, I watched my mother and aunts wrap their heads with silk scarves. Joseph says that the fro is "shrubbery" (line 1). This comparison is spot-on. A plant needs moisture; the lack thereof causes it to dry out and die. Silk scarves help to retain the scalp's natural oils, whereas cotton is an absorbent material, which could cause damage to the hair. In another sense, Joseph uses the personified fro to make an allusion to slavery and to address the generational trauma that African Americans live with. A metaphor soon follows these lines, an image of the fro as it is "growing from scalp into sky, launching pad / for brilliance and bravery, for ideas uncontained by / barbershops and their maniacal clippers" (lines 9-11). With this description, Joseph beckons her readers to imagine the shape of the fro and consider what it represents. She says that it grows from scalp into sky, not from scalp to sky. The latter description lacks the expanse that the former conveys.  The fro is "brilliance," "bravery," and uncontained "ideas." Another powerful poetic tool present in "Thirty Lines About the 'Fro" is alliteration. Joseph uses alliteration to mirror the poem's playful tone. Take, for instance, the repetition of the "s" sound in lines 2-4: "The fro and pick have a co-dependent relationship, so / many strands, snags, such snap and sizzle between / the two." Also present in these lines is assonance (repetition of the "a" sound) and consonance (repetition of the "n" sound), adding to their sonic quality. Joseph's joy shines through the poem's tone. Lastly, Joseph incorporates colloquial language such as "gangsta lean" for its cultural significance (line 7). This leads me to ask, who is Joseph's intended audience?

I would say that there is a general, wider audience of mature readers, from which there are readers who identify with Joseph and the experiences she speaks of, namely African Americans. Joseph often communicates implicitly in her poem; therefore, one would need to know the context for some of what she brings up and be able to read critically. Furthermore, some things are hidden from readers if they are lacking cultural knowledge. For instance, Joseph includes song lyrics in her poem. I was actually not privy to this myself until I shared this poem with others. A family friend, a man in his 60s who is African American and loves jazz, pointed this out to me. Joseph says the fro has "a gangsta lean, / diamond-in-the-back, sun-roof top kinda attitude" (lines 7-8). These lyrics are from R&B artist William DeVaughn's song, "Be Thankful for What You Got." In the song, DeVaughn sings,

Though you may not drive a great big Cadillac

Diamond in the back, sunroof top

Diggin' the scene

With a gangsta lean

Gangsta whitewalls

TV antennas in the back

You may not have a car at all

But remember brothers and sisters

You can still stand tall

Just be thankful for what you got 

In the song, the Cadillac represents an object of pride, something carrying a lot of worth. By replacing the Cadillac with the fro, Joseph is celebrating and taking pride in her blackness. What's more, in celebrating something that is innate, that is inherent, she claims her humanity. Another thing to consider is the title of the song, "Be Thankful for What You Got," in the context of Joseph's poem. In the first line of the poem, she says the fro "is homage." I personally believe that Joseph is expressing gratitude to her ancestors through this poem, and that the inclusion of lyrics from a song with this title furthers this theme of thankfulness.

Is "Thirty Lines About the 'Fro" an ode? I would argue that it is. However, it does not follow the conventions of an ode–formal, serious in tone, rhymed. Rather, I should say, it is free of these conventions: "After all, the fro is a fist, / all curled power, rebellious shake, impervious / and improper" (lines 24-26). This does not diminish the authenticity of the poem. On the contrary, the poem's form and style contribute to the exaltation of its subject. While we may not all identify with the fro, the way Joseph weaves together the complexities that make up one's identity is universal. She depicts the universality of the physical and spiritual beauty of the human being through her own experience. 

March 2022