Explanation:
This is a poem by a modern, contemporary poet Teri Ellen Cross Davis. It deals with finding one's identity and the feelings that follow the process.
Now, let's first define what imagery is. It's the method of using words to help the readers create mental images in their heads in order to better understand and experience the text. It doesn't mean only imagining a picture in their heads, but also hearing a sound, feeling a touch, smell or even taste.
In the first stanza, the mother is braiding her daughter's hair with beeds, which symbolizes African-Americans' cultural identity.
And the imagery shows us the girl is not happy with this (her legs are cramping from sitting to long, her mother's thigh is pressing in her ear). This discomfort shows us the difficulties in the process of finding herself's identity.
But, after the braiding is over, the girl is extremely happy with the result, which can be seen from other stanzas and their imagery ( matching candy-colored beads, symmetrical braids swinging rhythmically, aluminum sneaking its shine through the hair’s woven layers, listening to the beads clanging kiss the crescendo then whispering).
Through these small movements and actions, the girl feels natural, feels free, enjoys herself, celebrates who she really is, which are the emotions one experiences upon embracing their true self and identity.
