NO WOMAN
NO WOMAN
By Farah Lawal Harris
“No Woman, No Cry” personified,
Black woman with the thickest hide,
skin slick to slip off insults and pride.
She don’t cry, but
she curses.
She don’t cry, but
adversity visits her daily,
drops in unexpectedly for dinner
and don’t never bring shit but
an appetite and the same tired, tall tales
bout how the Black woman is hard as nails—
Never frail, only tough.
Never feminine enough.
No woman.
No cry.
