![\"photo](\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/DSC_0054_copy.jpg\")
<\/a>photo by Alex Lear<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Just Like A Woman<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0You know I ain\u2019t scared of nothing. Not nothing. Mainly cause I been tried, tested and found true. I been stabbed. I been shot. I ain\u2019t never been poisoned but I done slept in the same cell with the most vicious bunch of cut throats in the world, thanks to old cigar smoking Judge Shea who sentenced me to a double dime on accessory to armed robbery. I wasn\u2019t armed but I was there when we stuck that store up when Peety popped the dude upside the head with the gun, I just stepped politely over the blood and tears flowing on the floor, and went on about my business of rahzooing the cash register. We had sense enough to shoot out the video camera eye, but not sense enough to take the video tape before we left. Aw well, you know, you live and learn. Time ain\u2019t nothing but a classroom, and either you learn and move on, or you stay stupid and just keep doing time. I did a dime and loose change behind some stupid shit.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0You know the joint is good for getting your head together. It didn\u2019t take me long to realize that sticking up poor people was both stupid and evil. First they ain\u2019t got nothing much and second why take anything from somebody who ain\u2019t got next to nothing? You hear what I\u2019m saying? I view the joint just like grade school, you do that shit once and you ain\u2019t never supposed to return. Me, myself, I ain\u2019t never going back to the joint, twelve years is a motherfucking-Ph.-motherfucking-D. Besides them young thugs what\u2019s showing up now in the slams is straight out ignorant ass fools, you know what I mean?<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As I look round this funny ass hole in the wall, it seems to me that everybody in this motherfucker done been up on the yard except for that pretty boy sitting over there checking out every hard leg what walk up in here, I guess he know how long he would last in the joint, and then again, some of them living better in prison than they ever could live out here in the world cause there ain\u2019t no big time faking and fronting up in the joint. Damn near everybody is ether sticking and getting sucked or else sucking and getting stuck, so you know, you kind of get used to men being women. Dudes like pretty boy is a prize that brothers fight and die over everyday. Lil dude like him get a big time murderer to be his old man, ya know, a cat who got more time than Methusaleem, or whatever that old dude in the bible was called, anyway, they get sponsored by one of them kind of dudes who ain\u2019t gon never see the sun shine again.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Being in the joint is just like anything else after you get used to it, it becomes your life. The joint be your life just like being in the world is somebody else\u2019s life. You do what you got to do to live. And you do whatever you can do to enjoy your life, you know what I\u2019m saying? At first it be different, but after you spend a bunch of years doing it with dudes, you get used to it. Some people don\u2019t, but most people do. It ain\u2019t no big thing, not like it seem\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Well ain\u2019t this a bitch, here come Popeye Henry. How in the fuck did he get out? And who that woman he got with him? She look too fine to be Popeye\u2019s squeeze. She must be a whore and he must be buying his first piece since getting out. The motherfucker acting like he don\u2019t know nobody, strutting around with that real pussy by his side.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cYou want another beer?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cYeah, give me another one.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cWe don\u2019t give nobody shit around here. You can buy another one.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cI got money, motherfucker\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cMan, have some respect for your mama. Call me Mr. Motherfucker.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Me and Euclid the bartender been going at it for over two hours now. Euclid\u2019s a funny ass motherfucker. He claim he got his name cause he was conceived in the back seat of a Ford when his mama was in high school and she opened up a book that was on the floor and picked the first name she saw. Ain\u2019t that some shit?<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0You don\u2019t talk much, do you? You ain\u2019t said a word since we been sitting here.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Aw shit, now look at this. Look like Popeye and that broad got some kind of major static happening.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201c\u2026I can say whatever I want to say.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cSee how much you can say with a fist all up in your big ass mouth.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Oh Popeye, that ain\u2019t no way to treat a lady. Boy, you know I taught you better than that. \u201cHenry, my man, why don\u2019t you cool it.\u201d She must not be no whore he just met, cause I don\u2019t believe he giving her enough money to take a ass whipping like that.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cWho that dipping they lip in my business?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Look at him fronting. He ain\u2019t even so much as looked over here to see who it is sounding on him. Reaching his hand up in his coat like he packing and I\u2019m supposed to be scared or something.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cIt don\u2019t matter who it is, right is right, and right ain\u2019t never wronged nobody. Just cause you got a beef with your lady, you ain\u2019t got to go upside her head.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cFuck all that shit. A man take care a business wherever the business is.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Now where this motherfucker get off challenging somebody\u2019s manhood. See, before I went to the joint I would have been all over that nigga talking that murder mouth shit. But like I told you, I don\u2019t plan on going back, and seeing as how I\u2019m still on parole, I don\u2019t need to be getting into no fight behind somebody else funny business. Except, you know, I know this nigga. We did time together up on the yard. I know him in ways he don\u2019t want nobody to know. Maybe he didn\u2019t recognize my voice.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Now look at this shit. He hitting her again just to show me he can hit on a woman. Hey, man watch my back. I don\u2019t want no heat slipping up on me while I\u2019m dealing with this roach-ass nigga.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cMiss, you ok?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cSteve, this ain\u2019t your business man.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0So, you did recognize me. You just fronting but I got something for your fronting ass.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I look at the woman, and she don\u2019t say nothing. \u201cI said, are you ok, lady.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cHey man\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m talking to the lady, Henry. Not to you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cYeah, but that lady is with me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cMeaning?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cMeaning, this ain\u2019t none of your business.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m alright,\u201d she finally says cutting the silence of me and Popeye squaring off like some typical Saturday-night, two-dudes-fighting-over-a-bitch shit.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I can hear the place get quiet. There\u2019s always this silence before some shit jump off, sometimes the silence is less than a second, sometimes it be a minute or two, but there\u2019s always this point where it could go any which way, and it\u2019s like everybody be holding their breadth. And waiting. The dangerous quiet. That\u2019s when you got to act fast.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Popeye slips his hand back in his pocket. Knowing this nigga, I\u2019m sure he got a shank, might even be packing a piece. I turn my attention away from him, hoping to cool the scene out, \u201cWhat\u2019s your name, baby?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0She looks at Popeye when I ask her that. \u201cI\u2019m Marlene.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Popeeye glares at her. \u201cWhat difference it make to you what her name is?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Look at this motherfucker fronting. \u201cMy name is Steve. Me and Henry go back a long ways. We did time together. Did you tell her about me, Popeye?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cShe know I did time. I\u2019m just saying that was then, this here shit is now. And I don\u2019t appreciate\u2026\u201d I watch him make exaggerated hand motions in his pocket. \u201c\u2026you butting into my business.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cWhen you got out?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0He don\u2019t answer me. After we exchange snake eyes for a minute or two, I let it drop and head back to my seat. From over my shoulder I hear the ruckus. \u201cWhat the fuck you looking at him for, bitch?\u201d And I hear him slap her again. I know Popeye is just acting out on account of he just got out the joint, and he sitting up in here with a bunch of motherfuckers who been up in the joint, so he trying to prove that he\u2019s a man and not a turned out, jailhouse bitch, but he ain\u2019t got to be beating all over that broad to prove he a man. I can\u2019t stand to see no shit like this go down, so I got to do what I got to do.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cPopeye,\u201d I say to him as I turn around and walk up in his face. \u201cWhen you was my woman in the joint, did I treat you this way?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Henry don\u2019t say shit. He kind of shrink back into himself a little, take his empty hand out his pocket, don\u2019t say shit, and just walk away straight out the door. Marlene looks confused as a motherfucker.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But, see Popeye should have been cool from the jump and I wouldn\u2019t have had to call him out on that mishandling a woman shit. It reflects bad on me for him to act like a thug. Right is right and wrong ain\u2019t nothing nice. And, like I said, ain\u2019t nothing wrong in doing right cause right ain\u2019t never wronged nobody. You know what I mean?<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cHey, Euclid, sell me another beer,\u00a0mister<\/em>\u00a0motherfucker.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u2014kalamu ya salaam<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n First published in\u00a0KenteCloth: Southwest Voices of the African Diaspora<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>edited by James Mardis.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 Just Like A Woman \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0You know I ain\u2019t scared of nothing. Not nothing. Mainly cause I been tried, tested and found true. I been stabbed. I been shot. I ain\u2019t never been poisoned but I done slept in the same cell with the most vicious bunch of cut throats […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","_s2mail":"yes"},"categories":[6],"tags":[4,12,11],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176426719"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176426719"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176426719\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":176426721,"href":"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176426719\/revisions\/176426721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176426719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176426719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176426719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}