Dedicated to those magnificent black women & their blond wigs
Black woman with the blond wig on
you're living an illusion.
Think that head blanket
bought from macy's on a lincoln sale
will make the residents of forest hills
lay out a black carpet to their blond streets
because you have some blond horse hair on?
Black woman with the blond wig on
are you playing James Bond in blond
secret agent in charge of repression
congo blood?
Black woman with the blond wig on
is it your greatest desire to appear on t. v.
welcome to I've got a secret
commercial?
I dreamt I ran through the streets of Brownsville
in my maiden form wig
and no one noticed my skin.
Now back to our show.
Black woman with the blond wig on
please tell the panel your secret.
Black woman with the blond wig on
can you imagine yourself on to tell the truth
with three blonds on blond
and you're black on blond
commercial?
Free, slave, black, twenty one, and blond.
If I have but one life to live
let me live it as a blond.
Now back to our regularly scheduled program,
with tonight's special guest, the black woman with the blond wig.
Will the real woman with the blond wig please stand up?
Did you think you fooled anyone?
What's that you say?
Oh, I'm sorry
you no longer have a blond wig on.
Oh, I see
you've bleached it blond.
Yes, that does make a difference.
All right, all right,
black woman, with the blond, bleached hair
I am not trying to put you down.
All I'm askin', you see, is what I truly want to know
is, do blonds have more fun?
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Comments
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just a wig
From guest fleece johnson (contact)
im a woman of color w/ many wigs n a soon-to-be blonde wig...i cherish and love my naturally black hair. do i think that by wearing this wig I am suddenly going to gain the attention of the world? uh, no. is the media influencing me to buy it? lol, nope. i just want to try a new color. i understand what ur saying but u might be saying it in a very reactive, as opposed to proactive, way. -
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From guest gues (contact)
This is really stupid, being blonde has nothing to do with being "white". When white people dye their hair dark or get perms does it mean they are repressing their whiteness? LOL, this is ridiculous who cares if someone wants to dye their hair. Where I come from all the blondes have the fun. BTW wigs aren't made from horse they're made from human hair, unless you get some ghetto synthetic stuff. -
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well...
From guest bestofluck (contact)
the black is beautiful "movement" is not involved here, nor is diluted thoughts about plastic surgery. i suppose if read in a basic english class, this poem would certainly read a commentary on society's pressures for us to fit maintstream ideals and how we need to believe in our own beauty.
but would pinero really give a dam about all that? thats what im wondering. he writes this, half as like a harassment of some women he probably saw one time when he was high, and then also in the style of a commercial or a talk show. i think what's at stake here is not so much the blond haired, wig or no wig, black woman, but the society she is in. why in forest hills, the notoriously jewish neighborhood of queens that invoked anti-nazi slogans in order to stop project housing from being built within their area (building a project doesnt seem half as frightening as the ghetto-confined mentality harbored by the residents at that time) ... but anyway, then we can envisoin what pinero DOESNT say outright-- the studio audience, the talkshow host, the people watching the tv commercial... whose fantasy is this really? the woman in a wig, who like he says, just copped a cheapie on sale like its no big deal? or is this a fantasy imposed on her? who's callin out saying what this means to her? and who so desperately wants to know? racism is a fact, but the question is who chooses to perpetuate it and how? the way i see it, hair color makes no difference. its the fear, curiousity, near dementia (the blending of the tv/imagined/dream world and reality) which our society consumes that pinero is highlighting. when he says "you're livin an illusion" YOU could be ANYONE. -
Ouch! Some painful thoughts in this poem. Dare I say more? Yeah, why not. I have noticed that there is an increased trend within the African-American community towards the shade of blonde looks. I find, although the looks are beautiful, that there is some bias on my part. Is it "fair" to hope that the "natural" look prevail over the image of the media? Is it really a wrong thing to have blonde hair, or to purchase blue contact lenses if the eyes are naturally brown? Is it fair that when the natural look includes braided hair--that somehow it is not considered "professional" looking or acceptable in the corporate world?
Pinero's poem addresses the issue when afros, looking black and dressing black were being urged as the "Black is Beautiful" movement. There is much to be said about this movement, and I think the message is still important today. Conformity brings its own evils. Better to highlight one's natural beauty than try to be what one isn't. If being blonde is a fun opportunity as opposed to thinking now I am beautiful because I look closer to social definitions of what beautiful is, then--why sell your soul?
I like to think this poem can also challenge other image shaping ideals. Bigger breasts by using implants? Why?? Needless plastic surgery undertaken by more teenagers than at any other point in history--shame.
Pinero's poem points to looking at yourself and finding what makes you unique and beautiful. He pulls no punches with the language or with the images. He puts it out there. This is actually one of the few Pinero poems that I do like. -
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The message that comes through to me is "To thine own self be true".
We are what we are and costumes and cosmetics do not change that. The constant media and societal pressure on people to become what they are not is depressing. What is even more sad and depressing is the way people try to change themselves artificially.
Well done to Pinero for this poem and for his final ironic dig. -
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I definitely felt this was the idea he was expressing as well, "to thine own self be true."
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