Mind
“Clarity is not loud. It arrives when the noise stops.”
Get Yourself Together
Discipline doesn’t always arrive gentle.
Sometimes it comes loud, public, and unfinished.
This is how order was taught.
“Act like you been somewhere.”
Narrated by. J. ElahiYourn.
Act like you been somewhere, dammit.
Tuck your shirt in.
Get yourself together.
Your mama running the street—
ain’t said cat, dog, hi, bye, nothing.
She know I got shit to do.
Bring your black ass on here.
Dammit.
Tread Lightly
Family intuition moves faster than confession.
What you think you’re hiding is never the real concern.
“My grandmother knew. She wasn’t stupid.”
My grandmother knew.
She wasn’t stupid.
I had girls in the house—
and some more shit.
Somebody told on you.
What you doing in Paterson?
In my head I’m like, oh shit.
I thought this was about
the girls in the house.
How you know?
Don’t worry.
Tread lightly.
(Kiss my teeth.)
Just In Time
A moment of timing, attention, and arrival.
Hello—my accent echoed.
“Where you from?”
(honey-bronze, brown skin, thick ting).
New Jersey.
“Oh yeah, what part?”
She seemed older—
and I’m addicted to older jawns.
Englewood.
“Oh yeah, my brother—
ATP!”
(This where I tune out,
’cause I don’t give a fuck.)
In my head I’m like,
I just wanna see you turn around.
“Oh yeah, that’s nice.”
“Hey, you live around here?”
Yes, ma’am.
“Hi, my name is—”
Wide hips,
ass fitting the ass-to-waist ratio.
I’m starting to get impatient though.
She seems nice.
Let’s bag it, wrap it, taste the moment.
“My name’s Jhusten—
just in time.”