Hat – itude

There’s a little more strut in your carriage
when you wear a nice hat.
There’s something special about you.

And then, she leaves home and joins the company of her mothers
and aunties and sisters and nieces and daughters at church whose
actions have been identical to hers that morning.
They too had waited longingly for the gift of a Sunday morning.

~ Maya Angelou

Countless black women would rather attend church
naked than hatless.
For these women, a church hat,
flamboyant as it may be,
is no mere fashion accessory;
It’s a cherished African American custom,
one observed with boundless passion by black women
of various religious denominations.
A woman’s hat speaks long before its wearer utters a word.