"Like ONLY A Sistah' Can............(My Poet Spotlight 2#)

 ...a lil' somethin'-somethin' I wrote for a skit I did with the 'Soul-Of-Cinema-Players" in tribute to Ntozake Shange's "For Colored Girls Who Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Was Enuf".......

They say, that all the true bruthas…all the true Mistahz/
Say "Give me a sistah...a sistah/

raised on yams with big
gams/ ya’ can’t miss her!"

Yep...many,many a lady/ are sweet
like daisies/ some are even CRAZY/ while some are working on a master plan (...plan...plan...)
But when it’s all said and done/ there is absolutely NO one/ who can do it like a sistah can…..
LIKE ONLY A SISTAH' CAN: Work a job where the pay is low, but the demands are high.

Where for White boys the sky’s the limit
and for her the limit’s the sky.

Can train a younger, "lighter" worker
and then watch THEM promoted ahead.                                                

But at the end of the day….still hold up her head

I said ….

at the end of the day......her wiiiiiings are
spread.

I say at the end of those days/
she’s prays…….. and is grateful instead.

So that when opportunity does come-a-knockin’….she’s
already prepared.  

LIKE ONLY A SISTAH CAN:

Love a grown-@ss boy
masquerading as a man.

Bear him three-big-headed
boys, without even a ring on her hand.

Give them ALL his last name……even when he denied they
were his.
Look the other way…..when HE
looks at every other
skirt-wearing-'Miz'.

....But come Graduation Day,when ALL three sons hold degrees with honor.

She smiles humbly as they all
say: “Thank-you, for being our
mother AND our father” 

LIKE ONLY A SISTAH CAN:

See another sistah’, who
looks not much different than she

And yet watch her roll her eyes,
grit her teeth at her as though SHE

wuz’ the enemy??!!

Be judged by her clothes, her
car, the length and authen-tis-it-eee of her hair.

The way her lips and hips
protrude…..whether her skin is dark or fair. 

LIKE ONLY A SISTAH CAN:

Choose/ to throw attitude/ back---->( *what-evah' bitch'! *)---OR

See that other sistah for
what she iz TRULY….

Bearing the weight of
plantation baggage abusing/ confusing
what should be obvious:--->MUTUAL BEAUTY!

And what it iz---it iz, so to
speak....we shine...we glow as unique as stars/

Oh-let-me-break-down-the-ways-that
we-distinctly…. “ARE”


We are the honey-brown-mocha-lemon-tan
AND dark chocolate of it…


We are the happy-napps-creamy-crack-hot
comb straight AND store bought of it…


We are the slim-shorty-lanky-skinny-minny-
hardly weigh a pound of it…


We are the Thick Madam-
rounded-more-bounce-to-the-ounce of it…


We are the East, the West, the North and the dirty-dirty South of it ….


We are the belly of the beast, concrete
streets, Miami heat and Mississippi muddy-mouth of it….


We are the Delta, Zeta,
Alpha-Kappa-Alpha- Rho…of it…..


We are the Aggie-Golden
Bull-Bronco-Eagle-Trojan-WSSU Ram—“Uuuuu
KNOW-Uuuu KNOW!! of it…..


We are the Baby-Mama of it….

We are the ex-girlfriend drama of it…..


We are the loving-doting wife of it……

We are even the “Imma’-cut-this-N*gga-with-a-knife” of it…….


We are the Suma-Cum laude of it/ We are the “Lawdy I’m soon coming-Praise HIS name even when I’m naughty of it”/We are the “Aasalaam-Alaaikum-Waalaikum-Asaalam” of it….

..and YES….. we are also the: slide
down a pole, make‘em--shake ‘em- to the
break-a-break-a-dawn of it!


We are ALL of that, all of them…it
is all of you

...and all that I was, can be
and 'AM'….

Yes, many a woman is called,

But y’all know….. that NO ONE can do it like a sistah'
can!

Thank you....

(C) All rights reserved Lena Hopkins-Jackson