Poetry: “College Haircuts” by Joss Bracero
College Haircuts
It’s in the dorm bathroom, your hair
strewn about the yellow tile, my hands
still tingling from the buzzer, that I am
warmest. Little icy bits of my heart
thawed and cleared, free to flow into
touches on your newly bared scalp and
forehead. A kind of love pressing from the tips
of creation calloused fingers, rough with you.
It’s in the dorm bathroom, my hair
strewn about the yellow tile, your hands
shaking with precision after taking the
scissors from my haphazard habits. You are
always freezing and delicate with me
in this dorm bathroom, our hair mingling
strewn about the yellow tile.
About Joss Bracero
Joss Bracero is a trans writer of poems and memoir based out of Worcester, Massachusetts. He is the recipient of the 2023 Barbra Pilon Prize for Poetry and the 2024 Elizabeth Bishop Manuscript Prize. His work will appear in The Worcester Review.
