HAIR

sun day is better than satter day
how could it be worse?
hannah and i sun ourselves on the roof garden
h rides around on her tricycle in a pretty summer dress
my pale forehead gets a bit too much sun
who was it who nicked our lovely parasol?
i strum and pick my way through some songs i wanna busk
till hannah gets bored and demands to go for a roam
the lady will not take no for an answer
so she climbs onto the handlebar seat
and we head off along the breezy streets of mangwon
h has got a great eye for detail
halfway along a road lined with rosebushes
she spots a single tiny pink flower
freshly unfurled and new
awakened by the may sunshine
we go get some kimbap
(korean-style sushi)
oooh korean readers will hate me for saying that!
a comedy of errors in the restaurant
i manage to spill not one but two dishes of soy bean soup
over hannah and her new dress
then we pedal down to the hairshop
for my leonine locks need a trim
hair
like my teeth
another of my weaknesses
my dad always says that it's ginger
i've got little wavy unmanagable bits around the ears
which simply won't be tamed
it's always been fine flyaway stuff
and now it's getting a bit thin on top
i've even noticed a bald patch almost out of sight
right on top of my head!
when i was a kid i longed to have dark hair
so i could look like one of the beatles
even as a teenager
i realised that with my fine hair
i could never have the style i wanted
and resigned myself to a lifetime of disappointment
when i started university
the smiths were all the rage
and flat tops were in
a style i could only dream of having
last year i finally gave up on the pony tail
that one trick pony
which was an attempt not to look square
these days i can have it short and managable but square
or interesting but long, messy and uncontrollable
i expect my hairdresser to know instinctively
what to do with my errant mane
it's basically just a trim after all
and i get thrown when she starts asking
what i want doing with the messy bits around my ears
which she keeps combing backwards
making me look like a scarecrow
i get that sinking feeling
nearly six years in this country
and i still can't ask for the style i want
to give her credit she gets there eventually
she does a decent job with some poor raw material
but it ends up being boy-next-door square
the kind of thing that will earn me the dubious
'you look 10 years younger' platitudes
still hannah likes it and says i look pretty
well, i always was 'pretty boy' in the band...
in the evening
i go for a twilit jog along the river
past trees of sweet-smelling lilac blossom
one of my new revolutions
to boost the chi levels
early to bed
up at 5am
daily yoga to stretch the joints
a daily run to get the blood pumping
a daily morning diary up on the roof
a daily blog of course!
a musical offensive
recording and busking
life is not a series of obstacles blocking your way
it's just a set of hurdles to be jumped