Why do mothers yank so hard

As they brush their daughters

Tangled

hair?

 

It knots,

They say,

Or it straightens.

 

Yet,

As the tangles fade to silk

All the real hair,

All the real girl,

Falls out of their heads in clumps twirled around brushes.

 

To this open-ended question,

There seems no answer

Not leading to further tangles itself.