STRONG, BLACK WOMAN….
Those are words that have inspired pride in me…
Then caused me to cringe…
Bringing tears to my eyes…
I was raised by a platoon of SBWs…
They were smart, money-earning…
Handling their business…
Raising good children Amazons…
Everyone looked up to them…
No one more than me…
But one day around my teen years…
I started seeing them differently…
When I would catch them unawares…
The looked tired…
Lonely…
A bit sad…
I accepted my legacy…
By age thirteen…
I was on the planet Amazonia…
Repping hard…
Smart…
Sassy…
Sharp-tongued…
Five feet ten…in stocking feet…
Damn…ain’t that something….
But I knew I was more than…
Just another SBW…
I got married first…amongst my friends…
My girls were aghast…
They wore me out with…
You will never…finish your studies…
You will just be…
Some man’s wife…a baby machine...
I didn’t listen to them…
I did me…married that man I loved…
Who loved me…loves me...
But I defied them…
Did the school thing…
To death…
Several careers…
Good kids…
But…
I also got to be not strong…all the time…
I got to wake up at night…
Saying…
“Baby I am thirsty…my back hurts…”
Hearing him say…
“Lay right there, I got you…let me get you some juice…while I rub your back…”
Now that might not seem like a big deal…
But damn is it real…
It shores me up for those times…
When a sister has to be fierce…
Amazonian…a SBW…
Aint nothing wrong with that…
But there is a time…
And a place for everything…
Don’t be ashamed to sometimes be a different SBW…
Sweet Black Woman…Sexy Black Woman…Satisfied Black Woman…
It’s ALL GOOD…
acVernon Menchan…angelia…
