Hard Histories Senyah Haynes

Hard Histories

Senyah Haynes

Hard histories Break that down Hard- solid, firm, immovable to some extent, or certainly unmalleable Hard- not soft, not fuzzy; fierce even Histories- not one, but several Stories, his and hers What happened, what really happened What has been The truth as it was presented That’s what the brotha said we have a problem with – We the people, we Americans, we who live on stolen land built by stolen people We can’t handle knowing, hearing, or accurately retelling our hard histories We can’t stand it We are not able. We would rather frolic through the lily fields of our own imaginations Myths, national fairytales, and goose down lore Our sanitized notions of what happened before Our outright lies. Of course, don’t forget that when I say “we” That word is relative Because we the people, the Americans, those living on stolen land built by stolen people Don’t all shy away from our national hard histories To many it ain’t even history It’s the in-your-face, never ceasing, reality of hard times now.